See Me
by NeonFrost
Summary: Albus realises he has feelings for Scorpius but Scorpius won't stop talking about Rose long enough to see him. Meanwhile, Lily has fallen in with the 'wrong crowd' and James and Albus must make her see sense before she makes a grave mistake. What dark magic is lurking in the halls of Hogwarts Castle and how will it throw their lives into chaos? Albus/Scorpius, James/OC
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own none of this.

Set one year after the events of Cursed Child. Albus and Scorpius are still serving monthly detentions. Albus/Scorpius themes. Albus realises he has feelings for Scorpius and struggles with whether he should communicate them or not. If you like/dislike please review and let me know.

 **See Me**

Chapter 1: Albus Vs Rose

Albus groaned as he looked at the ornate clock on the wall of the trophy room. He and Scorpius had spent the last hour of their Sunday morning polishing trophies and had been instructed, by Professor McGonagall, to keep at it until she came to relieve them of their detention. She had also threatened to extend their detention if she were to catch them talking so they worked in silence for the most part, only stealing brief moments of conversation after a thorough check of the corridor outside to make sure the headmistress was out of earshot.

"My dad once told me McGonagall, made him and uncle Ron clean trophies for a month," said Albus deciding to take a break and sitting down on the stool he had stood on to collect a trophy from the top shelf, a trophy which now lay abandoned on the floor beside the greasy cloth he'd spent the morning using. "You don't think she would keep us in here for the rest of our lives do you? I mean we didn't really do anything that bad, did we?"

"I'm not trying to be that guy, Albus," said Scorpius returning an 'Achievement of Wizarding Excellence' award to its place in the glass cabinet in front of him, "but we did kind of run away from school, steal a ministry artefact, travel back in time and rewrite the entire course of history…"

"Okay, I see your point," replied Albus, cutting him off. "But we did put everything back to normal and it's not like anybody died."

"You died," said Scorpius, turning to his best friend scowling, "and it was terrifying."

"I didn't die," Albus pointed out nonchalantly checking his nails for grime. "I was simply erased from existence. Never born. A mere shadow of a memory…" A filthy cloth collided with his face, startling him so much that he stood up and almost tripped over his stool. "What was that for?"

"It wasn't funny," said Scorpius seriously, his grey eyes sparkling dangerously as they met Albus's in a look that Albus had never experienced before and sent his heart to the pit of his stomach. "The world where Voldemort was alive, I mean. I'd rather ask Rose Granger-Weasley out a million times over than go through that again. And in any case, a world without you wouldn't be worth living in."

"I'm sorry, Scorpius," said Albus, in an attempt to alleviate the guilt that had settled in his gut. He momentarily felt a twinge in his chest at the thought of Scorpius asking out his cousin – again – but it was almost immediately replaced with comfort and a strange, but not entirely unwelcome, knotted feeling in the pit of his stomach at his friend's touching comment. He quickly cleared his throat before pointing out that it would take a million attempts to get Rose to say yes anyway, so he'd be better off back in "Baldy Voldy's" world. He then picked up the cloth at his feet and threw it back at Scorpius who ducked out of its way, clumsily shouldering the open cabinet and, knocking the glass door off its hinges to shatter on the floor, sending a dozen trophies clanking loudly down onto the dusty marble.

"Now would be a really bad time for McGonagall to walk back in wouldn't it?" said Scorpius grinning cheekily. Albus grinned back, glad to see that his insensitivity had been so easily forgiven. He felt his face fall as a tall slender figure appeared at the open door and he automatically connected eyes with his best friend.

"That it would, Mr. Malfoy," came the stern voice of the headmistress from the doorway. "Do I need to tell you that you'll be here for the rest of the afternoon? Or have you both managed to work that out?"

"Yes, Professor," the boys said in unison, trying to avoid making eye contact with the teacher or each other, fearing they might start laughing and end up cleaning trophies for the rest of the year; and Albus had no doubt McGonagall was capable of such a punishment. The weight of her gaze boring into the crown of his bowed head gave him the uncomfortable feeling that she could hear his very thoughts and he braced himself for further reprimand.

"You may break for lunch in an hour but clean this mess up," she stated. "I trust that, between the two of you, you can figure out a reparation charm." She raised her eyebrows expectantly before leaving, tight-lipped as always. As soon as the professor was gone, Scorpius told Albus he was convinced he had seen her smirking as she was leaving.

"Do you think if I was in Gryffindor like Dad, she'd have gone easier on me?" asked Albus before flicking his wand at the broken glass on the floor. "Reparo." Other than a few shards feebly wobbling closer together, nothing happened. It was as if the broken pieces of door _wanted_ to be whole again but simply couldn't be bothered getting up and joining together again. Albus swore under his breath.

"I think it would have made her worse," replied Scorpius following suit and pointing his wand at the mess on the floor "Reparo," the shards made no more of an effort to pull themselves together for him. "Why are we so bad at charms?"

"Maybe if you had more charm Rose would stop rejecting you," Albus cursed himself for turning the conversation back to his friend's infatuation. It was the last thing he wanted to talk about – it seemed that the girl was on his friend's mind more than anything else these days. "Reparo."

"It's just a matter of time," replied Scorpius shuddering visibly. "Does the word 'time' make you uncomfortable nowadays? It makes me uncomfortable nowadays. Reparo." A few shards of glass on the floor stuck together for a couple of seconds before springing apart once again. "I think we're making this worse, Albus."

"There is definitely way more glass on the floor than there was two minutes ago," Albus agreed observing the glittering ruins of cabinet around their feet, looking more and more like pixie dust with every failed attempt to correct it. "I don't think Rose would be any good for you. Reparo." He chastised himself under his breath – why did he keep bringing her up? It was as if his tongue were working against him for, after every mention of his cousin, his heart seemed to protest beneath his ribs.

"And why is that? Reparo!" Scorpius shouted the spell, hoping that it would make some difference. It did: the shards flew together, forming a single pane of glass, once again, to the boys' delight. It floated there in mid-air for a brief moment before falling to the hard floor and shattering again.

"Ah, nearly!" said Albus. "If you can do that again I'll try levitating it into place then you can cast reparo on the hinges. Is that how the spell works?"

"Right, I think so. Are you ready?" asked Scorpius, receiving a confident nod from Albus. "Reparo!" The shards flew together again.

"Wingardium Leviosa," chanted Albus, feeling the magic connect with the glass. He high fived himself in his head for not messing up a first-year charm which, with Albus's spellcasting record, had definitely been a possibility. He walked the floating glass slowly towards the wooden shelving unit trying to keep his mind focused.

"So, er," said Scorpius swallowing deeply, tapping his wand somewhat anxiously against his thigh, drumming out an irregular rhythm that was already beginning to peel at the corners of Albus's concentration. "What did you mean when you said Rose would be no good for me?"

Albus's face reddened, his shoulders raised as Scorpius's question tore away his last slither of concentration and they were once again standing in a pile of broken glass. The boy laughed nervously, Scorpius joining in awkwardly, then Albus heard himself speaking without thinking. "I just meant that she's always been a bit of a cow to us. You know? That way she gets all superior?"

"Right," agreed Scorpius quickly, his pale skin turning a light shade of pink around his cheeks. "I knew that's what you meant I was just…I wanted to make sure…are you ready to try this again?"

"Yes," said Albus, feeling his face starting to flush as well, his heart hammering against his sternum as he was tempted to ask what else he _could_ have meant but his palms were sweaty enough without dragging the whole situation out so he kept his question to himself. He chanced a glance at his best friend, doing his best not to look in the other boy's eyes. Thankfully Scorpius's attention was focused on the task at hand, albeit he was still slightly red in the face, his eyes locked firmly on the floor.

"Reparo."

It took the boys just under half an hour to fix the cabinet, to a standard McGonagall would approve of, and return the room to its original state – well as close to its original state as they could manage – before making their way to the great hall for lunch. The four long tables were busy with rambling students – the weekend replacing the sea of black school robes with a rainbow of casual clothing. The boys made their way to the Slytherin table and found a spot near Harley Marroway and Artemis Smith, the co-captains of their house quidditch team.

"Hey, Potter," said Marroway with a wink. "Got an opening for seeker if you want to try out for the team this Monday. You could be just like Daddy-Potter but in better colours."

"I'm not into quidditch," said Albus, his brows knitting together irritably. He and his father had made progress with their relationship but he was still bitter about being compared to him in any way so the joke felt more personal than was likely intended. "Nor am I into talking to your ugly face, Marroway."

Artemis Smith guffawed uncontrollably before extending a hand across the table to shake Albus's, the latter's eyes widening in surprise as he hesitated, seemingly considering completing the action before siding against it. "What about you, Malfoy?" asked Smith, recovering from his exaggerated hysterics after being swatted around the head by Marroway. "You could maybe be the second worst seeker in Slytherin history." Clearly referring to the boy's father whose name had fallen short in Slytherin house over the years.

"He wasn't that bad was he?" asked Scorpius nervously though clearly appreciating that the older boys had stopped pushing the rumour that Voldemort was his father – he would take boring old blood-traitor Draco Malfoy over the Dark Lord any day. Albus knew his best mate wasn't usually comfortable with encounters with the older boys in their house. In fact, neither of them really fit in with the rest of their peers – it was a factor that had driven them together when they had first arrived at Hogwarts. "I'll try out. Do you want me to try out? You were joking weren't you? You don't want me to try out."

"See you later losers," laughed Marroway, vacating his spot at the table. Smith shrugged before following after his teammate.

"Are we really that weird?" asked Scorpius, accidentally loading his plate with potato salad before grimacing. Albus, aware of how much Scorpius hated potato salad, stifled a laugh as his best mate begrudgingly began eating it rather than waste the food. "Maybe if we were on the quidditch team Rose would like me more."

Albus rolled his eyes, switching his plate with Scorpius's potato salad, earning him a smile as the other boy got stuck into macaroni. "You could be minister for magic and Rose still wouldn't notice you."

"Yeah but her mum is minister for magic - she's used to that kind of thing – her mum isn't on a quidditch team," Scorpius pointed out. "A team uniform makes you cooler."

"Maybe the chess club will start wearing uniforms. And, in any case, you're already cool. A bit goofy, mind you," laughed Albus, not noticing the half smile that had crept onto his best mate's face. "Well, I think you are, anyway. And what does it matter what everyone else thinks?" Scorpius seemed to consider Albus's words.

"You're right, Al," said Scorpius. "I think we're cool."

"Well the coolest boys in Hogwarts have detention till dinner," came the voice of Professor McGonagall, appearing out of nowhere again. "I expect you to be finished with lunch by the end of the hour. Do a good job this evening and I'll consider letting you out of detention before Christmas."

"Christmas!" exclaimed Albus. "But it's barely October! And we had detention for near enough the whole of fourth year!"

"Christmas of next year," reinforced McGonagall. "And that'll be ten points from Slytherin for answering back. Be thankful you're still here Mr. Potter." Her lips were pursed sternly as her eyes fell next on Scorpius. "Have you anything to add Mr. Malfoy?"

"Nope," answered Scorpius. "I'm good. Just sitting here, keeping quiet and looking forward to detention."

"Well you have a lot to look forward to," her gaze met Albus's once more before she made her way out of the Great Hall, presumably returning to her office to think of more ways to inflict suffering upon their already guilty souls.

The boys exchanged few words as they finished eating and returned to spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning trophies and, by the time they returned to the Slytherin common room for the night, they had exhausted all conversation about the girls in their year, their substandard proficiency in Charms and the lack of justice in their detention sentence for something they did well over a year ago.

The common room was busy with students: a group of first year girls were nervously lingering around Stephanie Rutherford, a popular fifth year girl, and her friends as if hoping they might absorb some coolness by proximity; the four remaining members of the quidditch team were huddled in a corner talking in hushed voices, perhaps considering tactics for the coming season or discussing possible candidates to fill the vacancies created by the graduation of three of their teammates, Smith caught their eye as they entered and gave them a sarcastic wave before returning to his team, guffawing; couples of sixth and seventh year pupils were dotted around, seemingly competing for who could swallow their partner's tongue the quickest. There was an armchair free by the fire but it was dangerously close to a particularly vigorous couple who were drawing much giggling and pointing from the younger students. Albus and Scorpius silently decided to go straight to their dormitory.

Albus sank onto his bed and exhaled a sigh he hadn't realised he had been holding in. Scorpius, spent some time going through the trunk at the foot of his bed, pulling out a roll of parchment on which he had started his potions essay, followed by a well-used copy of 'Magical Drafts and Potions'. Setting them down on his pillow he followed his friend's example and lay back, exhausted, on his own bed, his spine cracking loudly in the otherwise empty dormitory.

"Do you think we'll really be in detention forever?" asked Scorpius after a moment's silence. "I mean I know what we did was stupid but we were trying to do the right thing weren't we? That should count for something shouldn't it?" Albus raised himself onto his elbows as he peered over at Scorpius, his chest rising and falling slowly. "Surely there are worse crimes in the world."

"Yeah," agreed Albus. He felt guilty for having incriminated Scorpius with his own selfish plan at getting back his father. "I'm sorry, you know. For getting you involved, I mean. It should just be me doing all these detentions." Scorpius then sat up, mirroring Albus completely, a grin plastered across his face. "What?"

"If you were doing all the detentions, who would I spend my time with?" laughed Scorpius. "I'd be begging McGonagall to scrub trophies with you." Albus felt his face flush for what felt like the thousandth time that day, Scorpius's words having a much more profound effect on him than usual but he sat there grinning like a caged imp that had been let loose in a room full of fragile artefacts. "Although, I think I'd rather do Hagrid's paperwork than look at another trophy."

Both boys winced as they each remembered their first detention that year, sorting through decades of neglected files in the unused Care of Magical Creatures office on the fourth floor. They had spent most of their time looking for incidents from their parents' years at Hogwarts only for Scorpius to discover more than sixty occasions where his grandfather had made complaints against the half giant's teaching methods and sharing, with Albus, the source of his father's everlasting dislike of hippogryphs. Furthermore, they had learned to take caution as many oversized worm-like creatures with flamethrowers fitted to their back ends had taken residence in the file cabinet. They had left their detention covered in papercuts and blisters.

Scorpius laid back down on his four poster and Albus continued to stare at him. Something had changed since they had returned to Hogwarts and Albus had found that his eyes were all too willing to linger on his best friend. Of course, he had always admired Scorpius, but this felt different. Scorpius had been willing to follow him to the end of the world and back and it spoke volumes about the nature of their friendship. Watching him lying there, safe and happy, it felt as though Albus were seeing him for the first time.

"Is there something on Malfoy's face, Potter, or are you checking his nose for bogies?" came a deep voice from the doorway followed by some sniggering, announcing the return of their dorm-mates. The four boys who shared their dormitory were diffusing into the room. Ronnie and Reggie Falconer were large and brutish mirror images of each other. They were the source of misery to most of the younger students in Hogwarts and seemed to be at their happiest when they were extorting sweets for "protection". They were emptying the spoils of a hard day's work onto one of their beds and dividing up the goods. Derrick Douglas, the one who had spoken, was easily the thickest boy in their year but had a nasty gift for the Misdirection Hex which he used at every opportunity he could find, laughing hilariously as his victims lost all motor-coordination. The last of the quartet was Richard Carrow, a scrawny boy with aquiline features, who spent the majority of his time managing his peers' mischief.

Scorpius and Albus sat up straight as if they'd been caught committing some sort of crime and focused their attention on their peers. Albus knitted his brows together irritably as he regarded Derrick with the severest of glares he could muster. "Shove off Douglas," he said, gritting his teeth before standing and getting his potions essay from his trunk (he hadn't planned on doing it but he figured it would make him look busy and might keep the others off his back).

"Looks like Potter's on his period," said Ronnie.

"Man-struating," agreed Reggie, sniggering. "What? You forget your tampons, Potter?"

Albus's ears grew hot and he could envision them turning red as he ignored the twins who were promptly shushed by their boss, Richard, complaining of a headache. It was unlike Richard Carrow to actually stop any of his goons from tormenting people but Albus silently thanked him before following Scorpius to the desk between their beds to work on their essay. "Hey, Potter, Malfoy," said Carrow, walking towards them, his headache clearly no longer an issue. Albus rolled his eyes and Scorpius swallowed heavily as they turned around in their chairs, the other three boys spectating the exchange that was about to happen. "You still haven't told us why you're always in detention. Aren't we friends?"

"We have told you," retorted Albus. "We got fed up and jumped off the train last year."

"Yeah," replied Carrow. "But you didn't tell us where you went."

"We didn't really go anywhere," Scorpius chimed in, nervously, giving Albus a look that screamed 'help me'. Albus held in the smirk that threatened to grace his lips.

"What does it matter, Carrow, we obviously didn't get very far or we wouldn't be here," said Albus, taking over from his best friend. "Why? Were you hoping for an invite or something?"

"Don't be daft, Potter," laughed Carrow, followed by the low grunts of his friends, clearly enjoying themselves. "I just wanted to see if the rumours were true. Word in the castle is that Malfoy went looking for his _real_ Dad and you're both Death Eaters. Either that or you ran off to elope. You can decide what's worse for yourself." The boys subconsciously inched away from each other – a tiny movement that didn't go unnoticed by Carrow who immediately began laughing. "I thought as much. Neither of you have the balls to go looking for the dark lord."

"Fine," said Albus standing, his temper snapping finally. "You want to know where we went? We went to Azkaban to visit your entire family, Carrow. I'd say they send their love but I think the dementors sucked it all out of them."

Scorpius gasped as Carrow launched himself at Albus, fists flying in all directions as the boys rolled around on the floor. Derrick and the twins had all crowded into the space with their wands drawn - Scorpius picked up his own from the desk, hoping that he wouldn't have to use it – he didn't like his odds. The boys grappling on the floor, separated: Albus sporting a bloody nose; Carrow a black eye and they were both breathing heavily. Carrow's finger twitched momentarily as he clearly considered pulling out his wand but seemed to think better of it and instead turned on his heel and marched from the dormitory, his followers in tow, grinning like spoiled children.

"Are you all right?" asked Scorpius when they were alone. "Sit down." Albus did as he was told and Scorpius was immediately tilting his head forward and telling him to pinch his nose to stop the blood flow. "That was pretty savage, Albus. What you said, I mean." Albus looked up apologetically. "Head down." Scorpius was poring over a pocket-sized textbook on healing spells he kept under his bed. "Don't get me wrong, it was brilliant. I don't think I could have said it. Did you see his face? I think he was about to cry. This might sting, by the way, but I think it's meant to. Or it might sting because I've done it wrong and vanished your nose, who knows?" Albus had barely opened his mouth to protest when Scoprius cast a spell to mend his nose. He felt the bone crack loudly and a searing hot pain radiated from the point of contact. His fingers fumbled around anxiously as he checked to ensure his nose was still attached to his face.

"Thanks mate," said Albus, glumly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to start a fight. I just got angry when he said…you know." Did he know, though, thought Albus. Scorpius looked at him and he felt ridiculous.

"Yeah the Voldemort/Death Eater thing kind of stung, I guess. But what does it matter what those idiots think?" replied Scopius after a moment's thought. "We were hardly rushing to be best mates with them anyway. In fact, it's probably for the best that we've established that we aren't in their gang. You know, I think that spell might have made your nose straighter than it was before Carrow broke it." Albus, laughing, swung a pillow at his best friend's head, revelling in the dull thud it made upon contact. Scorpius smiled at him endearingly before resuming his position at the desk.

"Do we really need to do this essay tonight?" asked Albus trying to mask his childish whine. "I think I'm too injured for homework and, in case you forgot, I'm kind of a genius with potions." Scorpius scoffed playfully. "What? I am." Scorpius raised a blond eyebrow in his direction. "Well, I'm definitely better than Rose. That must count for something. Remember her shrinking solution? She was eight feet tall for days." They laughed as they remembered the confusion in her giant face, after having followed the recipe exactly.

"If I remember correctly," Scorpius mused, "you added three extra rat spleens to her cauldron while she was slicing caterpillars."

"Yeah," said Albus. "But it _was_ hilarious. Like me. I'm a funny guy."

"The funniest," agreed Scorpius. "But you'll also be the one failing if you don't do this essay."

"Nah," stated Albus. "Old Sluggy won't fail me, he's obsessed with my dad. James barely scraped by in his O.W.L.s and Slughorn practically petitioned for a remarking of the entire exam."

"Yeah but he's _James_ and you're just _Albus_ ," Scorpius pointed out. "Ever noticed how we don't get invited to his club of favourites." Albus thought about it and knew his friend was right. James and Lily had both been invited to every one of their head-of-house's parties since they were first years. "Not that we'd go or anything. It would just be nice to get an invite."

Soon, the room went quiet except for the scratching of Scorpius's quill. Albus took the time to go to the bathroom to wash the now crusty residue of blood from his face. He looked in the mirror, which had started to fog up from the hot water he was running, and examined his nose. Was it straighter now? He had never spent much time looking at himself but he had suddenly become anxious about whether he looked good or not. He ran a hand over his messy hair in an attempt to flatten it but, like his dad's, it refused to be tamed. He didn't look awful, he decided. He'd never look like James, admittedly, but he wasn't exactly repulsive was he? He brushed his teeth and rinsed out his mouth before returning to the dormitory. Scorpius was in the process of changing into his pyjamas when he returned. They had shared a room for the past three years and had dressed in front of each other for as long but Albus found himself sweating and unable to divert his gaze from his friend's pale torso. What was wrong with him?

"What happened to your chest?" asked Albus, thinking aloud and immediately cursing himself. He didn't want Scorpius to think he was ogling him – even if he was. "I mean, the bruise, not the hair." _Albus, you idiot_ , he thought to himself. Why was he even thinking about Scorpius's chest hair? Though, he was certain it had not been there the last time he had looked at his best friend's torso. Had it been that long since he had looked? Yes, he decided, it had been that long because he normally wouldn't be looking at all.

"Hair?" asked Scorpius, immediately looking at his own chest anxiously. "I mean, yeah, there's a little…what was the question again?" They shared an awkward moment before Scorpius hastily pulled a pyjama top over his head.

"You have a bruise," said Albus. "That's all…"

"Oh," replied Scorpius fondling a hole in his pyjama shorts absent-mindedly. "It happened that night in the astronomy tower, remember when I fell over Hannah Wood's telescope? It's not as bad as it looks, I tried to make an anti-contusion salve but it just made it bigger."

"Right," said Albus, not remembering seeing his best friend making any salves nor Scorpius landing on his chest when he fell in the astronomy tower but he was too embarrassed by his own crassness to push the subject any further and thus just dressed for bed. "Did you read the Prophet today?"

"Yeah," answered Scorpius, laying back down on his bed, yawning. "Nothing interesting, the usual: another reported sighting of Gerlort the Gnomewolf; dragon pox in Coventry. The prophet's been scraping by with these stories for weeks now."

"Gnomewolf?" Albus raised an eyebrow, sitting in the edge of his bed. "What in the name of Merlin is a Gnomewolf?"

Scorpius sat up enthusiastically, crossing is legs under him as he delved into a detailed account of reports of a lycanthropic gnome roaming the countryside. "It's obviously an elaborate hoax but, you can't deny it's a cool idea. Last week, a witch in Devon claimed to have seen him riding a custom motorcycle in full leathers…"

"Sounds like something my Uncle George would dream up," suggested Albus. "Speaking of," he continued, "they've finished the renovations on the Hogsmeade branch of the shop. We should check it out if we're allowed on the next visit."

"You think McGonagall will let us do anything unsupervised?" asked Scorpius. "No doubt, she'll send a house elf to keep watch in case we try to make a break for it. We should probably get to bed, I'm exhausted and I don't want to fall asleep in Slughorn's class tomorrow with this essay due so soon…"

Albus agreed and they each slipped under their covers, Scorpius extinguishing the light between their beds. Albus closed his eyes and focused on the silence of the room. His mind kept wandering back to his best friend's body and sent his heart hammering. He curled into a ball and faced away from Scorpius's bed, willing his mind to shut off all the impure thoughts he was having. Where had all this come from? And why now, when their lives had returned to some semblance of normality. He had definitely inherited his father's knack for making life more complicated than it ought to be. Deep breaths from the next bed over filled the air around him and sent shivers down his nerves. _He's your best friend, Albus. Stop it. You don't have feelings for Scorpius._ And although every inch of his body disagreed, Albus fought his way to sleep.

His dreams were filled with pale skin and soft grey eyes and acts he had never imagined he would envision about his only friend. When he awoke the next morning, Albus felt as though he had had no sleep at all. Hesitantly, he glanced over at Scorpius's bed to see that it was vacant, the snores of the Falconer brothers filled the room as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. From the bed opposite his, Richard Carrow was glaring at him with narrow slits for eyes, obviously their tousle from the night before still fresh in his mind but Albus was far from intimidated while his adversary's cronies still slept. He dressed quickly and made his way to the common room where he found Scorpius helping a small group of first years with homework they had left till the last minute.

"I would take anything he says with a pinch of salt," said Albus with a smirk, startling the blond boy. "He's rubbish at charms." The group of boys suddenly looked slightly panic-struck, thanked Scorpius and gathered all their belongings to cram at a free table by the fireplace. "You're up early."

"And you aren't?" asked Scorpius, grinning. "I couldn't sleep. I had this weird dream about a pack of wolf-gnomes running around the grounds and I somehow couldn't force myself back to sleep. What's your excuse?"

Albus felt his mouth dry up as he remembered – very vividly – the filthy things his mind had him doing to Scorpius in his dreams. He made brief eye contact before directing the subject elsewhere. "I think I see a new notice up on the board, have you seen it?"

Scorpius frowned and turned his head to the cork board that was often cluttered with club updates and general communications between interest groups. They never bothered to read it so Scorpius's confusion was fair. There was a bright violet poster tacked to the top right hand corner which took up a good portion of space. Gold writing indicated a checklist of some sort.

"No," stated Scorpius. "I never noticed, let's go have a look."

The poster gave information on early symptoms of Dragon Pox and details of a new strain of the infection that had been discussed in the Daily Prophet. Perhaps the outbreak in the Midwest was more of a problem than they had thought. Either way, Albus was simply glad to have the attention directed away from him as his mind continually sauntered back to the previous night making him very aware of how close he was standing to Scorpius. He was so close he could feel the heat radiating from his body; so close that, if Scorpius turned, their shoulders might touch. _Stop it,_ Albus berated himself again.

They spent the morning trying to stay as far away from their dormmates; leaving the breakfast table when the other boys arrived, returning to the common room, turning up late to potions to avoid lingering about in the corridor. They did not need any reason to get into another fight. They had double potions on a Monday morning with the Gryffindors – it was a class that was bittersweet for Albus. He loved that there was very little practical magic involved in potions and he excelled in the class but being surrounded by Gryffindors never failed to remind him of home and how different he was from his family. He and Scorpius sat in their usual spot towards the back of the room where they were partially concealed by a half-drawn partition curtain that had lost its chord years ago, and Slughorn had refused to replace, boasting the imperfection added character to the room.

"Settle down, settle down," boomed Professor Slughorn as he bounced toward the blackboard, waving his wand and causing the chalk to start scribbling out a short list of "key ingredients" to the Draught of Peace. "I want you all to work in groups of three." Albus groaned under his breath, exchanging a glance with Scorpius who seemed indifferent to the idea. "Each group is going to be assigned a key ingredient which we are going to investigate the effect of compared to the standard draught. I want you to think about the effects of quantity AND quality. There will be an essay for you to report your findings." There was a collective groan throughout the class at the prospect of another potions essay when most of the students in the room hadn't even begun the last. "Ah miss, Granger-Weasley, you've decided to join us. Five points from Gryffindor." He glanced around the room to see that most of the students were already arranged into groups of three. "You can join Mr Malfoy and your cousin, Mr Potter, for this one I think."

Many heads turned to the door to watch as Rose apologised for being late then sauntered glumly to the back of the class to sit with Albus and Scorpius. She smiled – a forced smile no doubt – and sat precariously on the edge of her stool as if proximity to either of the boys was dangerous. She rummaged around her bag for her notebook and a quill and tried to not make eye contact with any of her friends.

"Hi Rose," whispered Scorpius with a goofy grin. "You're looking particularly lovely…"

"Oh don't," said Albus, cutting him off and earning a blush and a wide eye from his best friend. "She's only here because she was forced." Rose turned and attempted to look offended but her heart wasn't in it.

"I don't know what you want from me, Albus," she spat back in a hushed whisper so as not to be heard by the Professor who was giving more tips for their investigation. "I've tried apologising to you and I've been really polite to your friend when I've been rejecting him. What is your issue?"

Albus opened his dry mouth to reply. _My issue is I just realised – only yesterday in fact – that I completely fancy my best friend who completely fancies you and only ever talks about you and it makes me angry_. The thought invaded his head like an imperius curse and he found he could do nothing but stare dumbly at his cousin until, after moments of pure torture a single "cow" slipped past his tongue in response. Rose drew her eyes off the pair of them and was on her feet the instant Slughorn told them to get to work. Albus had a feeling they would not be talking much in this lesson.

"Powdered Moonstone?" asked Scorpius. "I know nothing about powdered moonstone." He flicked through his textbook as Albus and Rose sat, arms folded, in front of their respective cauldrons. Albus's potion contained excess of their assigned ingredient whilst Rose's contained a substandard limit and Scorpius's contained none at all. All three cauldrons were different colours and simmering nicely. "Do either of you know of anything else it's used in?" Albus and Rose both opened their mouths to speak, realised the other still existed then thought better of it and stayed quiet. Scorpius pored over his textbook in a failed attempt to mask his discomfort at the awkward atmosphere. "Must be time to stir again," he added despite Albus already having started the process, prompting Rose to roll her eyes irritably. "Hey! It's gone all gooey. Has anyone else's gone all gooey?"

On the contrary, Albus's potion had become light as air and started to evaporate out of the cauldron and Rose's was frothing violently, spilling over the edges. They each added the standard amount of hellebore to complete their concoctions. Scorpius's had gone thick like tar and was a dark blue; Rose's was frothing angrily, splashing out of the cauldron onto hers and Albus's shoes and Albus's potion had, by this point, completely evaporated.

"Well that's good," he muttered as he swirled a hand in the now empty cavity of his cauldron. "I've got nothing left." Rose smirked momentarily before realising that she would also have none left if she didn't get the frothing under control. Scorpius was out of breath and sweating as the consistency of his potion had become so viscous that he had to use all his upper body strength to complete the number of stirs. All around the room, strange odours and vapours (and in one case a loud bang) were appearing as the other groups completed their potions.

"Well, now that most of you have arrived at the end of your potions, I want you to have a good look at how your ingredient affected the potion and you are each going to write an essay on what you have seen and why," he cleared his throat. "Four to five feet of parchment, by next Monday. Remember your Felix Felicis essays are due this Wednesday. Have a good day. Malfoy, Potter, stay behind will you, I need a word."

The room cleared out, Rose rushing to link arms with another Gryffindor girl – no doubt dying talk about what an awful morning she had just had – and left without another glance. Richard Carrow loitered around the door until he was shooed by the professor telling him that eavesdropping was a cowards tool. Albus and Scorpius took their time packing their things before making their way to the desk – Slughorn barely ever took any notice of their presence unless it was to ask Albus how Harry was or if James and Lily were ill (if they didn't turn up to one of his parties).

"How are you boys getting on with your detentions?" asked Slughorn with a sigh as if he were suffering the injustice on their behalf. "How long have you been having them now?" Albus and Scorpius exchanged a glance of disbelief.

"Since November last year," Albus reminded their head of house. "You know, when we got back to Hogwarts after jumping the train…"

"It was a bit more than that really, though, wasn't it, boys?" laughed Slughorn. "In any case, I feel it has been long enough that I can offer you these." He slid two envelopes across the desk. Each one had their name on it and an arrogant little coat of arms that neither of them recognised. "Now, bare in mind, I don't condone your behaviour but, in all my years, I've never heard of a student escaping the train or the trolley witch and, if that doesn't take some skill I don't know what does." He twirled his big grey moustache in his fingers as he dreamt about the situation fondly. "Of course I've had to wait to give you these invitations as part of your punishment but now I think you've done your time."

"Thanks, professor," Scorpius held the envelope in disbelief, a grin spread across his face as he turned to Albus. "Isn't this the coolest?"

Albus raised an eyebrow at his best friend before deciding that it couldn't hurt to have Slughorn on their side. "I've always wanted to go to one of these, sir!" he exclaimed, concerned that he had applied too much sarcasm to successfully butter up the old man. "I don't suppose you can get us out of detention now, can you?"

"Now you're chancing it," the Professor guffawed. "I'll make sure you can attend the party but you know Professor McGonagall is a hard woman to please – trust me, I've been trying for years. The Slug Club is meeting next on Saturday for our yearly Halloween party. It's fancy dress, bring a date if you like." The boys both turned red in the face as they stammered thanks and rushed from the room to attend their charms lesson.

"Ha!" exclaimed Albus as he and Scorpius clambered up the stairs to the second floor, taking their time as the Ravenclaws were always late out of Defence Against the Dark Arts on a Monday. "Bring dates. He really thinks his club is something special doesn't he?" Scorpius flushed and Albus had the sneaking suspicion that his best friend was genuinely excited to be invited. "Wait, you really want to go don't you?"

"I guess," Scorpius mumbled. "It can't hurt to see what it's like. And it's not like we don't know anyone who will be there."

"If you mean Rose, I'll hex you," complained Albus. "I've had enough of her for one day."

"I meant your brother and sister," laughed Scopius awkwardly. By the time they got to chamrs they were out of breath and the last of the Ravenclaws were just beginning to arrive at the door as well. "Hi Danicka," said Scorpius, smiling at a tall girl with jet black hair. Albus felt his stomach twist itself into knots again, accompanied with a sinking sensation in his chest. He wanted to hex Danicka Smith in that moment. He chastised himself once again and prayed that whatever he was going through, this sudden infatuation with Scorpius, would pass as quickly as it had begun. They filed into the room and Albus picked a seat as far away from Danicka as he could, his insides only settling when Scorpius had followed him and took the chair next to his, as always.

They faked their way through charms, slept through History of Magic and near enough froze to death during Care of Magical Creatures. By the time dinner came around, the boys were thoroughly starved. At the Slytherin table, they were joined – to their surprise – by Stephanie Rutherford who flung herself irritably down beside Albus. Looking flustered and pushing a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear she said, "I have had enough of these bloody first years."

"Sorry?" asked Scorpius exchanging a curious look with Albus.

"I've had enough, look here they come," she ducked down, her head close to Albus's hip as she waited for them to pass. "They've been following me around all week. I haven't had a minute to myself since I became a bloody prefect. How are you two getting on this year? Still not talking to anyone else?"

"Something like that," muttered Albus, his eyes wide at the girl's proximity to his lower half. When the first years had found a seat far away from them, she returned to her natural posture and smiled a perfect (except for one slightly crooked tooth), beautiful smile.

"Thanks for the cover, Potter," she laughed and, with a wink, added, "I owe you one."

Albus laughed and turned to Scorpius who looked somewhat distant before grinning back at Albus. "How are you with Charms?" asked the blond boy. "I'm sure Albus could do with some help there."

"You're one to talk," retorted Albus. "I have no interest in Charms. Potions is where it's at."

"Still not a fan of the old wand waving, then," remarked Stephanie, rolling her eyes sarcastically. "Well, as it turns out, Charms is my best subject if you change your mind. Can I have that?" She was pointing to a plate of roast potatoes. She loaded her plate then Albus noticed as she dropped a few into her bag before returning the plate to the centre of the table.

"Planning a midnight snack?" laughed Scorpius from across the table.

"No," said Stephanie. "But I'm not telling you what they're for. You'll just have to stay up all night wondering."

"Because I don't have enough keeping me up at night," Albus muttered – a little louder than he had intended to. He felt Scorpius's eye on him. Would he turn to his best friend and see a look of concern or would it be a piercing eye that saw through him? Would he turn to see a face riddled with disgust? Thankfully a game of exploding snap further along the table drew Scorpius's gaze away from him just in time for Albus to never find out.

Richard Carrow and the other fifth year boys were curiously late to dinner that night. In fact they had only been sitting ten minutes when the plates cleared away and students started dispersing through the hall to return to their common rooms. Whatever they had been up to, they looked exhausted. Carrow made a point of winking at Albus and Scorpius. What that meant, neither of them knew.

"Ignore him," said Stephanie. "He probably just fancies one of you." She gave Carrow the finger at which, his expression morphed visibly to one of surprise. Albus doubted anyone in their year had ever had the gall to do such a thing to him. "Fancy walking me back to the common room? I don't trust that git to not hex me when my back is turned."

Albus and Scorpius agreed, lifted their things and, with Stephanie, made their way back to the dungeon. They discovered that Stephanie had fallen out with her best friend, Linda Craig, over the holidays and ended up coaching the first year girls as a means of forgetting and was now trapped as their ring leader and was tired of it. Occasionally, as they walked, her shoulder brushed against Albus's and he was beginning to think she was doing it deliberately to annoy him but he bit his tongue and put up with it. Once in the common room, they parted ways and headed to their respective dormitories.

"What was that all about?" asked Albus once the door was closed. He dived onto Scorpius's bed, crossing his legs.

"Shoes!" exclaimed Scorpius, noting the muddy soles on his bedsheets. Albus laughed as he kicked off the offending clothing and resumed his position.

"Happy?" asked Albus. "But seriously, I thought she was going to knock me over the way she kept walking into me just there."

"Are you that blind?" snapped Scorpius. Albus felt himself flinch and Scorpius twitched nervously, adjusting his tone as he planted himself down at the foot of his bed, across from Albus. "It's nothing. She just clearly fancies you, that's all."

"What?" Albus raised his eyebrows. "You can't be serious. There's no way. Does she really?"

"Obviously," confirmed Scorpius. "She's always ogling you in class. And I'm pretty sure she only took Care of Magical Creatures because you took it. In case you haven't noticed, she hates just about every creature we've ever studied."

Albus paused for a moment to think about it and his heart gave a dull thud. Did Stephanie Rutherford really have a crush on him? He should have been excited but he felt nothing but irritation. Why now?

"Why me though?" asked Albus after several minutes of silence. "What's so special about me?"

"Well," started Scorpius, clearly uncomfortable. "I don't know. You've got this 'Albus-y' thing about you. I can just see why she would like you. That's all, I mean. It's not a bad thing. I'm not explaining it very well, am I?"

"Nope," agreed Albus. "That was the worst reason I've ever heard."

"Well, I tried."

"What about you and Danicka?" Albus heard his voice speak without any permission from his brain. There was obviously nothing going on between Scorpius and Danicka Smith.

"Danicka Smith?" asked Scorpius with a sly smirk. "We're madly in love, I've asked her to marry me and we're eloping in the morning." His voice was dripping with sarcasm at every syllable. "That's what saying 'hi' means now isn't it?"

"Well in that case, hi," said Albus dramatically, narrowing his eyes in mock lust and dropping down to one knee in front of his best friend. Scorpius gasped in a similar mocking tone, raising his hand to his heart and fanning himself with his other hand. "What do you say?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" laughed Scorpius, throwing himself down on top of his best friend, wrapping his arms around Albus's shoulders. They laughed till they were out of breath but remained on the floor, Albus with his head on Scorpius's shoulder, once they had recovered. "I've been thinking a lot, actually. About Rose, I mean."

"Oh for the sake of Merlin's saggy left bollock," spat Albus, sitting up. "I'm fed up hearing about Rose!"

"Albus, will you calm down and let me talk?" retorted Scorpius, following suit and sitting up to regain a level eye with Albus. He was breathing sharply and looked nervous. "In fact, I don't want to talk, forget I said anything. Let's just go to bed."

"Fine," huffed Albus, crossing his arms. "Sorry."

"Sorry?"

"Yeah," replied Albus. "Mum always says you shouldn't go to bed on an argument. So I'm sorry for shouting. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Right," said Scorpius, regaining the smile that proceeded to melt Albus's heart and make him feel even worse about his outburst. "I'm sorry too then."

Scorpius got into pyjamas; Albus didn't bother and they both went to bed. Before long, the rest of the empty beds filled up and the room was awash with the sound of sleep. Albus's heart hammered in his chest as he was faced with the same predicament as the night before except that tonight, he had no hope of forcing sleep. He writhed under his covers and turned to face Scoprius's bed. They both had three of the four curtains on their beds closed: all but the ones between their beds. From his position – half buried beneath his pillow – he could see that Scorpius was asleep. The boy had kicked half his covers off and a sliver of his abdomen was visible where his t-shirt had risen during the night. Albus screwed his eyes shut but the image burned, hot, on the back of his eyelids so he gave into temptation and opened them again. For an instant, he could have sworn he had seen the whites of his best friend's eyes and he immediately feared that Scorpius had seen him staring but upon a second glance, he could see they were firmly closed. He watched with great fascination as Scorpius, breathing deeply, kicked his covers further off his body and Albus could just make out – after much squinting and wriggling as close to the edge of his mattress he could get without falling - that Scorpius was having a _very_ good dream. Albus felt his mouth dry up and the blood rushing through his body. He whipped closed the remaining open curtain as he forced himself to protect his friend's privacy from his wandering eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Lily Vs Albus & Scorpius**

Albus awoke several times during the night. He occasionally suffered a recurring nightmare about Delphi, Scorpius and him. It was a skin-crawling recollection of the events that had transpired the year before that had him breaking out in cold sweats and resisting the urge to vomit. It usually started with the three of them on the quidditch pitch, Craig Bowker appearing from nowhere and warning them that everyone was searching for them only to be murdered, in cold blood, by Delphi. The scene switched to the maze of the triwizard tournament, Delphi looming over them, her eyes haunting, as she threatened to kill Scorpius, raising her wand with the killing curse on the edge of her lips. In his memory, Cedric arrived at this point to intervene but, in the nightmare, he never showed up. Instead, Albus would spend hours of sleep watching his best friend being murdered or tortured and he would awake, like now, having had no rest and frantically checking to make sure Scorpius was still alive and breathing in the bed next to his. He would close his eyes, force his way back to sleep then see it all again. It was exhausting.

This time when he woke up, he heard from beside him. He sat up and turned his head towards the noise which he realised was coming from Scorpius's bed. The boy was writhing slowly beneath his covers and was slightly grey in the face. He was mumbling incoherently, the words spilling from his mouth blending together in a long sleepy slur. Albus strained his ears trying to decipher what the other boy was saying but he could only make out every third word or so: "expulso"; "mouse"; "Albus". Albus blushed upon hearing his own name, hoping silently that he wasn't the cause of whatever scene was distressing his best friend. He turned so the he was sitting on the edge of his mattress leaning over so much that his backside was barely on the bed anymore as he tried to get closer.

"Potter," an angry voice called from across the dark dormitory. "Can you do something about him? He's been doing that for ages."

Albus turned his head to see that a faint light was emanating from a crack in the velvet curtains around Carrow's bed. Was everyone in the castle having trouble sleeping or was Carrow just up late plotting some nefarious plan? Either could have been possible, Albus decided, having already decided years ago that he hated this Castle and most of the people in it. Still angry about their skirmish earlier in the week, Albus aimed two fingers at Carrow's bed before he stood, took the two steps required to reach Scopius's bed and gently laid his hand on the boy's shoulder. Scorpius's skin was hot through his pyjamas. Was he feverish?

"Scorpius?" Albus whispered, giving the other boy a gentle shake. He didn't respond, however, he did look more distressed, his eyes becoming wet. Albus glanced over at Carrow's closed curtains quickly before clambering onto Scorpius's bed and yanking the curtain shut so that they would be invisible to anyone looking over. His knee connected clumsily with his friend's middle, waking him up with a start that almost had them both toppling from the bed.

"Albus, what are you," Scorpius began but fell silent as Albus held up a finger to his own lips. Scorpius sat up, crossing his legs to give Albus room to sit at the bottom of the bed. He reached out to his bed side table, withdrew his wand and cast a muffliato charm so that they could speak candidly without being overheard. "If I knew you were coming I'd have put the kettle on."

"Funny," said Albus sarcastically. "You were making weird noises in your sleep. Looked like you were having a bad dream and I think Carrow was ready to come over and hex you for it."

"Oh," Scorpius grinned stupidly. "Thanks then. I don't remember what I was dreaming about."

"You said 'Mouse'," said Albus quizzically. "You know, your cat?"

"Oh yeah," said Scorpius leaning back against his headboard. "I sort of remember thinking about him but I don't know what it was all about. Sorry if I woke you up. Not sorry I woke Carrow up."

"I think he was already wake," said Albus nervously. "And so was I, I think. I had that dream again. The one in the maze."

Scorpius looked concerned and sat forward again, his elbows on his knees; his chin in his hands. "Again? You've not had it for ages." The blond boy looked sympathetic. He had told Albus of nightmares he had had from his time in Voldemort's world; a world where muggleborns and their sympathisers were tortured in the dungeons of the school. Scorpius always said he felt guilty or responsible whenever he thought about that world and Albus understood completely.

"I keep thinking about Craig," he admitted. "I always think that, if I hadn't been so gullible, he'd still be alive."

"Maybe," agreed Scorpius. "But if we hadn't done what we'd done, Delphi would still be out there. What's to say she wouldn't have found another way to get a hold of the time turner and brought Voldemort back without anyone knowing – I've seen that world Albus it's not a nice one." He paused, seemingly dry-mouthed. "I'm not saying what happened to Craig wasn't horrible. It was. I feel guilty too but there's nothing we can do about it and you need to remember it was Delphi who did it, not us."

"I know you're right," said Albus. "I just sometimes wonder what would have happened if we had just stayed on the train last year."

"Let's not go back and find out," said Scorpius. "I've had enough time travel to last me a lifetime."

"Me too," agreed Albus. "Would it be weird if we hugged now?"

"Probably," said Scorpius but he leaned over and wrapped his arms around Albus's shoulders anyway. Albus melted into the contact while it lasted breathing in everything about Scorpius as his own arms encircled the other's chest. The contact lasted a few beats longer than normal and he had the fear that it had become awkward when they pulled apart but Scorpius seemed indifferent. He leaned back once more and stifled a yawn. "What time is it?"

"It's about five, I think," said Albus, his heart still racing uncontrollably as his body reacted - against his will - from being so close to Scorpius. He crossed his legs and hugged his knees to his chest subconsciously. "I'm not sure I can get back to sleep though. Every time I do, I have the dream again."

"Well," said Scorpius. "We could work on the potions essay."

"Without Rose? You know it's a group assignment and she's in our group, don't you?" asked Albus, his mouth falling open at Scorpius passing up an opportunity to work with the self-professed love of his life who had no interest in him whatsoever. "I'm shocked." Scorpius blushed in the darkness though his face fell visibly. "In fact, I don't think you've mentioned Rose all week. Are you sick?" Scorpius coughed mockingly. "Thought so."

"Merlin's pants," gasped Scorpius dramatically. "I think I might be over Rose Granger-Weasley." He buried his face in the crook of his elbow. "How ever will I go on?"

Despite the obvious attempt at humour, Albus became excited by the thought that Scorpius might actually be over his cousin and he had a feeling he would be in high spirits today. Albus agreed to work on their essay provided that Scorpius did the writing and that they do it in the library where they were unlikely to meet any other students at this early hour. They dressed quietly, Albus taking note that there was no light from Carrow's bed any more and that the other residents of their dormitory were snoring.

"Bring your potions book," said Albus after rummaging through the trunk at the foot of his bed looking for his own for several minutes, deciding that the large case now swallowed textbooks as well as half of the socks that had ever been inside it.

Scorpius had no problem locating his book and they set off for the library soon after. A couple of older students sat in the common room, poring over coursework of their own but nobody looked up from the pages in front of them as they passed through the shared space and out of passageway, the bricks rearranging and reforming behind them. They met only the bloody baron on their walk to the third floor who insisted on accompanying them as he was not prepared to let Peeves "make a mockery of members of his house" – once out of earshot Albus insisted that the Baron just had nothing else to do; Scorpius pointed out that the Baron's behaviour was always questionable at best.

The library was deserted, as it always was, this early in the morning save for Madam Pince who was older than time and, as far as Albus knew, had never left the walls of the library. She made a fuss about them being clearly up to no good and made it clear that she would be watching them. "At the first sign of malintent you will be out, understand?" she exclaimed in her signature whisper which Scorpius had professed made him feel like there were ants crawling on his skin. They sat in a desk which was embedded in an alcove by a window that was as far away from Madam Pince as they could manage. When they spoke, they spoke quietly for, despite there being nobody else in earshot, the librarian was known to come down hard on any noise above the absolute minimum.

"Albus," Scorpius whispered. They had been working on their essay for a little over an hour and were ready to give up and go to breakfast when Scorpius spotted an unusual exchange. "Is that Lily?" Albus twisted around in his chair to get a look at what Scorpius was seeing.

Standing just in their line of view in a dark corner of the library, Albus's sister Lily Potter was standing with her arms folded and he head to the side, her angry expression framed by the fiery tendrils of red hair that had escaped from her messy ponytail. She withdrew her wand from the red tangles from the back of her head and was pointing it at someone who was obscured by the bookcase that was probably obscuring both of them from the librarian.

"Can you see who she's talking to?" whispered Albus, ducking back into the cover of the alcove as his sister glanced their way briefly. She hadn't noticed them and turned her attention back to whomever was currently incurring her wrath. "Or threatening, more like."

"No, I think its," Scorpius's mouth fell open all of a sudden as he stopped talking. Albus turned to enquire what was wrong. "I think she just obliviated them."

"What?" asked Albus loudly, his head snapping back round to see for himself but his exclamation spooked the girl who was obviously on edge and she bolted. Albus was on his feet in an instant and ran over to where the girl had been standing, Scorpius hot on his heels. "Where did she go?"

"Where did who go, Potter?" Richard Carrow was standing beside a small boy from Hufflepuff who looked dazed and unsure about where he was. "I was just showing William, here, where the recreational History books are kept. I am a prefect, you know."

"Don't play dumb, Carrow," spat Albus. "I saw Lily. What would she be doing here with a waster like you?"

"Waster?" asked Carrow, his hand moving to rest over his heart in mock-anguish. "That hurts, Potter. I thought we were becoming friends." He smirked and tapped his nose. "Looks like it's healed well."

Albus withdrew his wand and pointed it at Carrow's head; Carrow withdrew his and pointed it at Albus; Scorpius stepped in front of William, the Hufflepuff, in an attempt to shield him from whatever might happen. The two boys were breathing heavily and neither was ready to break eye contact. Albus's wand flew from his grip then, Carrow's followed suit as Madam Pince came charging up the aisle to where they stood.

"This is a _library_ ," she uttered, passion leaking from every syllable that left her mouth. "The duelling club meets on a Thursday evening and they do not start fights in front of the books. Collect your wands and leave. Immediately." William groaned momentarily then fell to the floor. "You two," she indicated Albus and Scorpius, "take him to the hospital wing. None of you will be allowed entrance to the library without permission from your head of house."

Carrow drew his eyes from Albus and Scorpius as they each threw one of William's arms around their shoulders. He collected his wand then, while the librarian's eyes were still on them, located Albus's and slid it into Scorpius's robe pocket bowing elaborately as Albus begrudgingly thanked him.

The boy turned out to be a second year, he informed them after he regained consciousness as they left the library, and he was unsure why he had been in the library or, in fact, where anything in the castle was. Albus exchanged a look with Scorpius and they silently agreed that Lily had used a poorly-executed memory charm on him. Albus and Lily had always had their differences and he had told their parents on several occasions that she was pure evil but he had always been exaggerating. He had never suspected she would do something like this. Not to mention that she had clearly been in the company of Richard Carrow.

"Why was Lily trying to modify your memory?" asked Albus irritably as they approached the hospital wing. Scorpius caught his eye and raised an eyebrow. Of course the boy wouldn't remember, he barely remembered his own name. Nonetheless, William opened his mouth to reply but lost consciousness again. "Lily's got a lot of explaining to do."

"Right," agreed Scorpius, the strain of carrying a dead weight again evident in the raspy breaths he was now displaying. "Let's just get him to Madam Pomfrey, the you can worry about grilling Lily."

"Fine," said Albus, shouldering the door open and alerting the Hogwarts matron who, like Madam Pince, had to be at least a hundred years old. She had been dozing off behind her desk, a mug of luke-warm tea spilling as she stood and regarded the situation with a stern eye.

"What happened here?" she asked, directing them to the nearest empty bed where they struggled to place the unconscious form.

"He passed out in the library," said Scorpius exchanging a look with Albus that asked whether they should tell her the full story. Albus, still fuming, had no problem with leaving Lily in the mess she had created.

"We think he's been hit with a really crap memory charm," said Albus. "He couldn't remember who he was or why he was here. Then he passed out. Again."

"Did you see who did this, Mr Potter?" asked Madam Pomfrey who was already leaning over her new patient and checking his vitals as she tried to obtain a clear picture of what had happened. "Memory charms are difficult to work with and are sometimes irreversible – have you ever heard of Gilderoy Lockhart?" They had. "Thankfully if this is a poor attempt, it should be reversible with a Limbic Restoration Potion but whoever has done this has committed a serious offence."

Albus hesitated. He was debating now whether or not he should speak to Lily first. After all it could just be a misunderstanding. Perhaps William the Hufflepuff had done something to deserve it. He was worried that he was just making excuses for his sister but he managed to push his anger to the back of his mind and never mentioned her yet, resolving to shout at her first. Madam Pomfrey told them to go and speak to Professor McGonagall and tell her what had happened.

Albus groaned as they left the hospital wing and made their way to the headmistress's office. "She'll probably just give us more detention. She hates us."

"She doesn't hate us," protested Scorpius but he too looked extremely nervous about approaching the statue that concealed the entrance. "Um, hello?" He tapped the large stone gargoyle on the wing. There was a great sound of cracking stone as it turned its head to look at Scorpius, making him taking a startled step back.

"You two again?" its voice was raspy and inhuman as it rolled its eyes. "Password?"

"We don't know it," said Albus, jumping as the gargoyle's head snapped in his direction. "Madam Pomfrey told us to come tell McGon- Professor McGonagall about…"

"No password no entry," the gargoyle closed its eyes and returned to its original position. Albus and Scorpius exchanged a concerned look.

"Should we just leave it?" asked Albus. "I don't think we're going to get in."

"Won't Madam Pomfrey be angry?" asked Scorpius. "Hang on." He tapped the statue once again. It sprung to life, raised itself up from its haunches and roared in Scorpius's face this time. So unexpected was the act that the boys fell over their own feet in shock and landed hard on the cold floor in a tangle of limbs.

"Hey," yelled Albus angrily, looking up at the ugly stone winged-beast. "What was that for you glorified rooster?" Scorpius elbowed him fearfully, obviously not wanting to make the guardian any madder than it already was.

"I've told you both, no password," it began.

"Yeah, yeah," interrupted Albus. "No password no entry. Well what if we don't bloody want in? Ever consider that?"

"Albus," hissed Scorpius, his sweaty hand wrapped around Albus's wrist subconsciously. He may not have realised he had done it but Albus was now very dry in the mouth as all he could now think about were Scorpius's warm fingers on his skin. "Can we just leave a message," asked Scorpius, his voice quivering nervously. "Then we'll go and you won't have to shout at us anymore."

The gargoyle seemed to consider this as it returned to its haunches and stroked its thick grey chin with its claw as it considered the request. Surely it had taken messaged for the headmaster of the school before – in fact that was probably the statue's primary function. Albus tore his eyes away from the point of contact between him and Scorpius and looked back at the stone beast with such valour that, had he been wearing the sorting hat it would have sworn it had sorted him into the wrong house.

"Ignatius, must you really?" Professor McGonagall appeared from a doorway further up the hall. She looked older than usual with her white hair in its tight bun atop her head with no pointed hat to conceal it. "Get up you two," she indicated at Scorpius and Albus. "Now, why don't we discuss why you're loitering around outside my office and harassing my already temperamental gargoyle who is already one strike away from being replaced."

"I was built by Godric Gryffindor himself," gasped the Gargoyle as though he had just realised how finite his job security was becoming.

"What do you boys think?" McGonagall turned to Albus and Scorpius. "Do you think a thousand years is long enough to consider redecorating?" Albus smirked at the gargoyle who had fallen silent and sat dutifully still before the entrance of the office. "What can I do for you both?"

"Madam Pomfrey sent us," said Scorpius at once, clearly eager to be out of the corridor. Albus grinned like an idiot as he considered his friend's heart to be racing as fast as his (though for a different, more obvious reason he suspected). "A boy from Hufflepuff's been oblivated."

"Badly," added Albus. "I mean, probably by someone who doesn't know the charm very well."

"And you didn't see who committed this offence, I assume," stated McGonagall firmly. "Or else you would have told me a name, wouldn't you?"

"Right," they both agreed nervously trying to not give anything away until they were sure they knew what was going on. Neither of them wanted to believe that Lily would do something so foolish without good reason.

"Very well," said McGonagall. "It sounds as if you both put this boy's well being above your own. I will award you both five house points. I will also restore your privileges for the rest of the week for bringing this incident to my attention."

"Does that mean we can go to Hogsmeade at the weekend?" asked Albus enthusiastically.

"Provided you return to Hogwarts afterwards," replied McGonagall. "And don't, as they say, do a runner."

"Thanks Professor," said Scorpius gratefully as he and Albus made their way to the great hall for breakfast, excited that they had something to look forward to. "I really hope she does get rid of that gargoyle by the way."

"Me too," agreed Albus as they entered through the great oak doors and took a seat at the still mostly empty Slytherin table. Scorpius nodded towards the Gryffindor table where Lily Potter was sitting with her back to them accompanied by her friend Hannah and Rose Granger-Weasley. "I wonder if Rose knows anything about what happened. They're thick as thieves those two."

"We could ask her in potions," Scorpius suggested as he buttered toast and passed it to Albus before starting his own - Albus was too busy staring at his sister, deep in thought about what was going on with her, that he didn't notice until Scorpius was almost finished.

"Thanks," he said, willing himself to not make a big deal out of the totally platonic gesture as he accepted his breakfast as casually as he could manage. "Post is here," he said, scratching his throat as he swallowed too much toast.

All around, owls of all breeds swooped, hooting dutifully, into the great hall bringing letters from home, newspapers and parcels varying in shapes and sizes to the now almost-full dining hall. With the morning post came the usual surge of chatter. Scorpius unfurled a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ that had dropped down in front of him, the front page drawing an immediate look of concern that drew his slender eyebrows together and a faint crease appeared upon his forehead. Soon, the high spirited conversation around the grand room was replaced with a quiet murmur as other students began to see what Scorpius was seeing.

"What is it?" asked Albus, concern beginning to exude from the recesses of his mind. It wasn't often there was a story that had such a profound effect on their peers. He had grown to despise the newspapers after all the articles they had printed on his family over the years, hating the unwanted attention it brought, and found that they printed more about his dad than they did about real news. Until that morning. Scorpius budged over and laid the paper out on the table so they could both read. So curious was Albus, that he barely noticed how their legs touched under the table or how they sat shoulder to shoulder in such ease.

The top story gave details on the deaths of an entire family of wizards (fifteen to be exact) in the south who had been being treated for suspected dragon pox – which was now simply a routine series of anti-viral potions – only to develop strange unrelated symptoms which led to their untimely demise. It then went on to state that there were many new instances of similar origins throughout the lower counties but it was yet to be confirmed whether these were standard dragon pox or if the new reports of sickness were connected. The population were being warned to be on the lookout for similar symptoms and report to their nearest medical facility at the slightest cough for examination. The ministry were looking into the worst-case-scenario of setting up quarantines should this mystery disease prove to be contagious.

"Well that's worrying," said Scorpius nervously. "Do you think it'll get up this far?"

"They don't even know if it's contagious," dismissed Albus. "It says right here," he pointed with his index finger, "that the wizards involved were known to have 'Grendyls Disorder'. They probably just had normal Dragon Pox and couldn't fight the infection."

"Malfoy looks like he's going to wet himself," laughed Connor Bates from a few seats up, his pug-like face contorted with laughter. A few sniggers from the boys in his year followed and resulted in a scarlet Scorpius. "Scared of a little cold, Malfoy?"

"Piss off, Bates," growled Stephanie Rutherford appearing behind Albus who was growing hot behind the ears. "Remember last Christmas when you _actually_ wet yourself?" The fourth year boy became red in the face and aimed a rude hand gesture at the three of them.

"Asshole," muttered Albus under his breath. Scorpius looked up and nodded his thanks to the blonde girl. He wished he had said it first but he hadn't had the nerve – confronting Carrow was nothing new but at a table full of people eager to see him fail was a totally different scenario.

"Everything okay Steph?" asked Scorpius. The girl raised an eyebrow at him and Scorpius tripped over his words to correct himself. "Stephanie, I mean. I shouldn't call you Steph."

"Steph is fine, Malfoy," the girl laughed patting his shoulder casually. The touch was nothing special but Albus felt the monster in his chest, that was longing to be closer to the boy beside him, was banging angrily on his sternum. "I'm okay. I actually came to ask you both for a favour." She paused briefly but not long enough for a response from either of the boys. "There's a rumour," she began, lowering her voice so that it could be drowned out by the chatter that had resumed in the hall, "that there's a map of the school. An enchanted map. And I've heard from a reputable source that you are the one to speak to about it, Albus."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow having clearly no clue as to how either of them would know anything about maps but Albus was quick to respond. "Well you'd be wrong then," he said, "it's James you need to talk to." Scorpius whipped his head around to look at his best friend. Albus just shrugged his shoulders.

"There's an enchanted map of the castle?" asked Scorpius, perplexed. "That's news to me." He looked hurt that Albus had never told him but the expression vanished as quickly as Albus had seen it and returned to Scorpius's regular docile appearance.

"Calm down," laughed Albus. "I only just found out about it too. It's how dad was planning to keep us apart last year – it's obviously not a very good enchantment…"

"Your brother James?" asked Stephanie with a sigh, ignoring their exchange. She clambered into the space beside Scorpius and slumped down on her elbows at the table, her hair dangerously close to a bowl of grapes. "It's hopeless then," she huffed. "He's _awful_."

Albus looked surprised and was glad to see his own expression reflected in Scorpius's countenance. He had heard girls call his brother many things: charming, handsome, funny, to name a few but never _awful._ He was, however, beginning to have faith that being in Stephanie's company might actually grow on him.

"So," said Scorpius, clearly trying to fill the lull in conversation that was seconds from becoming awkward. "Struggling with finding your classes then?"

Albus snorted and Stephanie shot back up into a sitting position to face the boys with an irritable glare. Scorpius had not meant to sound sarcastic and was stammering a rapid array of goofy apologies in a way that only Scorpius could which caused Albus to laugh harder and Stephanie to turn even redder in the face.

"I think he meant, why do you want my brother's map so badly?" asked Albus between recurring snickers. He waited and watched the girl's mouth open, close, then open again as she decided whether she should divulge her secret. "If you tell us why you need it, maybe we can help in another way," he suggested in an attempt to convince her.

"Er," the girl looked around nervously, blushing slightly. "I have something I need to hide," she confessed. "But I also need to be able to keep track of it when I'm not around…and from what I've heard from," she hesitated, "my source, is the map is the ideal way of doing so."

She blinked expectantly at them while they exchanged puzzled looks. What would need simultaneous hiding and supervision? If it were something trivial, surely she could hide it under her bed or buried at the bottom of her trunk (though Albus considered all the things he had lost buried at the bottom of his own trunk and thought better of it). While intrigued, Albus was certain that there was so much more to whatever Stephanie was hiding but he was convinced that she was unwilling to explain any further than she already had.

"It's not anything dangerous," asked Scorpius, his lip quivering slightly. "Is it?"

"Don't be daft, Malfoy," replied Stephanie immediately. "It just might get me into a bit of trouble if anyone finds it. And I'm a prefect so I really can't be setting a bad example to the other students."

"Are you sure you're a Slytherin?" asked Albus with a smirk. "I hate to tell you but you're doing it wrong."

"Oh ha ha," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Just because I don't want to be in Carrow's gang of bruisers doesn't mean I don't belong in Slytherin," her chest seemed to stick out with pride for a moment as she continued. "We don't all have to be assholes. You know Merlin himself was a Slytherin."

It was now Albus's turn to roll his eyes, for it was a line his mother had used to console him in his first letter from home when he had been distraught about not living up to what he had naively presumed was his 'family legacy'. What an idiot he had been. Watching Scorpius laughing as Stephanie listed all the pros of being in their house, he couldn't imagine anything worse than being in another.

"All right, all right," said Albus finally. "I get it, I'm proud to be a Slytherin too, calm down and take a joke, Rutherford." He caught Scorpius smiling from the corner of his eye and suddenly felt ridiculously cool for saying the right thing then just felt ridiculous when he realised he was wearing a dopey grin.

"Anyway," continued Stephanie. "Will you help me get the map from your brother then, or not?" she smiled sweetly and added a "pretty please" before continuing. "If you do, I'll let you in on the secret."

Albus wanted to say no and that he wasn't interested in her dodgy contraband but Scorpius had been quick to agree to her terms. Albus gave him a questioning look, at which the other boy just shrugged and said, "aren't you usually dying to break the rules? Only, this time I vote we don't jump off any trains."

"Merlin's beard!" exclaimed Stephanie. "So it's true then? You two really did try to do a runner last year? Where did you go?"

"That's a long story," retorted Albus uncomfortably.

"I've got time," replied Stephanie, enthusiastically.

Scorpius winced. "Let's not talk about time," he pleaded much to the girl's confusion but she did not press further. Instead she began to scan the great hall.

"What's your first period?" she asked, skilfully diverting the topic of discussion. "Neither of you do Runes do you?"

"Divination," answered Albus unenthusiastically. "And I don't need a crystal ball to tell you whatever you're plotting is a terrible idea."

"Yeah," agreed Scorpius, "especially if we're involved. We're cursed."

"I don't doubt that for some reason," said Stephanie with a nonchalant grace. "Anyway, we'll meet in the entrance hall after class and discuss tactics on our way to potions. Agreed?"

"Fine," agreed Albus, knowing that they were heading for disaster. When Stephanie finally departed, the great hall had begun to clear and students were making their way to their classes and Albus suddenly remembered that he had been meaning to keep a close eye on Lily at breakfast only to realise that she was long gone. "Oh bugger," he complained lamely.

"What?" demanded Scorpius as they began gathering their belongings. "Have you decided you fancy her back?"

"Hilarious," said Albus scowling. "No, I haven't. I did lose track of Lily though and now we'll need to wait till lunch to give her a row."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Elf Who is Hearing Vs Anyone**

Albus and Scorpius were exhausted by the time they had finished with classes. Every moment between lessons (and many moments during a few) had been spent with Stephanie, running over ideas to convince James to hand over the map. They covered everything from a trade, to a snatch and run or a confundus charm, though Albus was pretty certain none of them would be any match for James, head of the duelling club, in a duel. He had also been looking for an opportunity to confront Lily about the incident in the library that morning but his sister had not turned up to lunch nor had she yet appeared at dinner. The room was filled with the low murmer of students talking and the clatter of crockery. He was aware of the girls Lily usually sat with (including Rose who was still annoyed with Albus and was supposedly writing her own draft of their potions assignment) at the Gryffindor table but Lily was nowhere to be seen. He kept his eyes trained on the double doors of the great hall just waiting for her to appear. So focused was he, in fact, that Scorpius had had to repeat himself three times before Albus finally heard him.

"I said," began Scorpius for the final time, "you're leaning in your peas."

Albus looked down and, indeed, his elbow was currently planted firmly on half of his dinner, the sleeve of his robes staining a sickly shade of green. He swore under his breath then rolled the now soiled garment past his elbow so that it was no longer in his sight much to the amusement of the girls beside them. He mumbled a thanks to Scorpius before resigning to the fact that his sister was a no-show and he would likely have to wait until the next day to interrogate her.

"I was thinking," said Scorpius through a mouthful of dessert which he had decided to have instead of dinner, "that we should go visit William in the hospital wing."

"Why would we do that?" asked Albus thoughtlessly moving food around his plate with the edge of his fork. "It's not like he even knows us."

"Everybody knows you, Albus," laughed Scorpius. "Nobody likes you, right enough, but everybody knows you." He seemed to think better of his words for a moment. "I mean, I like you obviously. Unless it's not obvious. If it's not obvious already, we're friends." He went slightly red in the face as he became the awkward Scorpius that Albus adored and Albus couldn't help grinning at like an idiot.

"Don't worry, it's obvious," he replied, the word 'friends' hanging around in his thoughts for a moment longer than it should have. He pushed the idea of anything more happening between the two of them to the back of his mind. "Although, maybe it's you nobody likes and I just hang about with you because I feel sorry for you."

"Ha!" exclaimed Scorpius. "Good one." A pause followed, his silver-grey eyes widening in an anxious manner. "You are joking though, right?" He scrutinized Albus for a moment before deciding that, yes, he was definitely joking then he smiled a wide grin that lit up his face and made Albus's skin prickle. "Seriously though, I think we should visit. I also want to ask Madame Pomfrey about how the treatment works."

"We have enough homework as it is and you're trying to do more?" Albus shuddered comically and Scorpius laughed. "Fine," Albus conceded, "we can go after dinner and get an update but only if you promise to keep all the questions short, as I said, we _do_ already have homework."

"Promise," agreed Scorpius, nodding enthusiastically. "I think I'm done." He pushed his half-finished cake away and knocked his goblet over, spilling pumpkin juice all over the table and the girl sitting beside him. "Sorry," he mumbled clumsily as the girl shrieked and glared at him. He sourgified the table and offered to do the same for her robes but she declined claiming he had done enough. "Can we go now, please?" he whispered helplessly to Albus who immediately agreed, having not had much of an appetite anyway.

"So," began Scorpius as they clambered up towards the atrium of moving staircases and waited as one descended from high above to connect them to the first floor. The stairs from the second to third floor hadn't been in position all day according to the portrait of Lady Wendallyn (who liked to offer students updates on the activity of the enchanted steps) which meant that any students wanting access to any higher floors would have to cross through the second floor to the far stariwell. "You've been thinking about Lily all day," continued Scorpius. "Any closer to knowing what she's been up to?"

"Are you?" replied Albus absent-mindedly. "I mean, what if you saw it wrong? Maybe she didn't obliviate that boy at all; maybe it was just some daft jinx gone wrong."

"No," Scorpius shook his head as he pushed the door to the second floor corridor open to walk into a cacophony of malicious laughter as Peeves the poltergeist swooshed around their heads. They bent out of his way by instinct but ignored him much to his bemusement. "We weren't that far away and the wand movement is pretty unmistakeable."

"What if Carrow was controlling her?" Albus suggested ducking under a water balloon that had been launched at his head. The spirit had obviously taken to haunting the second floor due to the staircase malfunction, knowing that there would be a greater influx of students to harass than usual. In fact, Albus was convinced the pest probably had a hand in breaking the stairs in the first place.

"You mean-" started Scorpius who was cut off in mid-sentence as a bucket of ice-cold water was emptied over his head. He spat out a jet from his mouth and swiped his sopping wet hair out of his eyes much to the amusement of Peeves who soared away in uncontrollable fits of laughter. "Why me?"

Albus patted his friend affectionately on the shoulder and was rewarded with an awkward smile. Scorpius shook excess water from his sleeves before continuing up the corridor. His shoes squeaked on the wet floor and Albus was suddenly very sympathetic: he was completely drenched yet still made his way to the hospital wing to check up on the Hufflepuff boy.

"So you think it could be possible?" asked Albus finally, once they were absolutely certain that Peeves was not about to return to annoy them any further. "Carrow controlling my sister?"

"Like an Imperius curse?" asked Scorpius moving his wet hair out of his eyes again. "I guess it's possible. Unlikely though isn't it? Isn't it really hard to imperius someone? And then, Lily ran as soon as we came after her. Wouldn't Carrow have just let her get caught?"

"We don't know anything about what he's capable of," said Albus defensively. "I just hate the thought that he was even anywhere near Li-," he paused as a startled, wet-eyed figure appeared in front of them from the Hospital wing doors. "Lily?"

"Albus!" exclaimed the shocked girl who obviously hadn't expected to run into anyone. "I mean, hi. What are you two doing here?"

"Visiting a friend," answered Scorpius with a smile that Albus could see was genuine – knowing Scorpius wouldn't judge Lily until they knew the full story made Albus feel like the world's worst brother. "He's a bit under the weather."

"You two don't have any friends," the thirteen year old smirked and restored Albus's faith that he had had every right to judge his stupid, bratty, curse-ridden, little –

"What are you playing at Lily?" shouted Albus suddenly, startling the other two (and himself slightly). "You've obviously been crying and I know you know that I know what you're up to!"

"You know; I know; you know?" said Lily crossing her arms coolly. "I have no idea what that even means never mind what you're on about. I was just checking up on _my_ friend. Rumour is he was hexed for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong." Her eyes burned into Albus's in such a way that the meaning could not be mistaken. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear before barging past, ensuring that she bashed Albus's shoulder with hers on the way. She didn't look back once.

Albus caught eyes with Scorpius and saw his own expression mirrored in his friend's open mouth. Had Lily – adorable, sweet, innocent, little Lily Potter – just threatened them? They watched as the girl sauntered down the hall without even as much of a glance back in their direction. Whatever was going on, she was not the Lily Potter he had grown up with and Albus was convinced that Carrow was at the bottom of it.

"Did that just happen?" asked Scorpius dumbfounded. "Didn't she used to cry over unicorn poaching and house-elf equality?"

"Yeah," said Albus, his eyes focused on the back of his sister's wavy red hair until she disappeared out of view. "I always said she was making it all up. Guess I was right. We need to tell someone."

"I agree," said Scorpius, nodding. "But who do we tell? And what do we tell them? All we know is that Lily is acting strange and we saw her hanging about with Richard Carrow – and that's hardly a crime. And what are the chances of them even believing us?"

"You're right," said Albus. "A teacher wouldn't see anything unusual about it and nobody would believe Lily did something like this." His heart sank as he realised what they must do. "We'll need to talk to the Gryffindors."

"You mean Rose and James?" asked Scorpius. He didn't seem anywhere near as disappointed as Albus, something which still stung in his unrequited state of adoration for his best friend. "Do you think they've noticed anything weird?"

"I don't know," admitted Albus. "James is probably too busy with all his clubs and head boy duties to notice anything but Lily and Rose are really close so, if anyone's noticed anything, it'll be Rose." He cursed himself for even suggesting speaking to her.

"Visiting hours are almost over," the stern voice of Madame Pomfrey echoed from the door. "If you two are coming in be quick about it, my patients need their rest." They both bowed their heads in apology and clambered into the room before she could shout at them any longer. "And you boy," she spoke to Scorpius. "Do something about those robes or you'll end up in one of these beds yourself."

"Yes Miss," said Scorpius hastily stripping off his soaked outermost layer before they made their way to visit the only resident in the hospital wing who was happily whistling in his bed as they approached. By the time they were thrown out they had learned that the boy, William, had no recollection of being hexed but his memory had otherwise been restored. When asked about Lily Potter and Richard Carrow, he had had nothing but nice words to say about both of them. "It was odd."

"Odd?" replied Albus that night in the empty Slytherin common room – few students had yet returned from dinner that night. Scorpius was sitting cross-legged on the rug in front of the roaring fire – despite Madame Pomfrey's warning he claimed to feel the onset of a chill after the incident with Peeves. "It was bloody mental!" Albus continued, dropping to sit down beside the shivering boy on the floor. "How would Lily even know a memory charm?"

"I have no idea," said Scorpius, crossing his arms in front of his chest in an attempt to restore some heat to his body. "But I do think we should say something to James or Rose, they're better equipped to keep an eye on her than we are, I mean, it's not as if we can just waltz into the Gryffindor common room and check up on her, is it?"

"Why not?" asked Albus jokingly. "Why don't we just stand outside the common room all night, hex the first person to leave, switch robes and sneak in under cover?"

"You terrify me sometimes, Albus," said Scorpius with a pursed lip. "It looks like our only option will be to talk to…"

"Yeah, yeah," huffed Albus. "We'll talk to Rose before Potions in the morning." He had been looking for a way to speak to James so that he didn't have to spend any more time in Rose's company than was necessary. He looked at Scorpius expecting him to be happy at the prospect of having a reason to talk to his 'future wife' but his eyes were devoid of any enthusiasm at all. "Are you okay?" asked Albus after a moment, placing his hand on Scorpius's shoulder, the boy startled slightly then relaxed into the touch.

"I'm okay," said Scorpius. "I'm just worried about Lily." Albus felt his heart thump as Scorpius then did something unusual. He put his hand on Albus's leg and gave it a reassuring squeeze. The touch was brief, lasting only a few seconds and slipping by almost like he had imagined the whole thing, sending a prickling sensation up his body; sending the blood rushing to his extremities. "Are _you_ okay, Albus?" laughed Scorpius nervously. "You've gone all pale."

"I'm fine," he said immediately. He wanted to touch Scorpius in the same place and gauge his reaction but he was worried he wouldn't be able to take his hand back off him. Was it normal to touch your friends in such a manner? Was it normal for them now that it had been done once? Would he have to wait for an appropriate situation in order to return the gesture? Did Scorpius have to think about it as much as Albus did? _Stop thinking about touching him_ , he thought, pushing the idea out of his head. He looked at Scorpius, his face was glowing on one side from the fire beside them, his hair was still slightly damp. He couldn't help himself. His hand, seemingly acting of its own accord landed on Scorpius's leg. His breath hitched at the contact and his heart hammered as his eyes met Scorpius's confused countenance. He leaned forward…

"There you two are!" came a flustered voice followed by an out of breath Stephanie Rutherford. "Lucy Marshall said she heard you saying you were going to the Hospital Wing," she then turned to Scorpius, "and Vanessa Marshall said she hates pumpkin juice and you should be more careful." She took in the sight before her and her eyes widened briefly as they landed upon Albus's embarrassed face as he quickly withdrew his hand from Scorpius's knee. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

"No," said Albus quickly, getting to his feet followed more slowly by Scorpius. "We were just talking about breaking into the Gryffindor common room." He chanced a look out of the corner of his eye at Scorpius and his heart sank – he was tight-lipped and looking at the ground. Had he realised how close to kissing him Albus had come? Why had he done that? Had he ruined their friendship on an impulse? "Unless you've come up with a better way of getting the map off my brother?"

"Nothing short of joining the duelling club and fighting him for it," admitted Stephanie. "What?" she exclaimed after a long pause. "I'm running out of time here, it's an option. Anything to add, Scorpius? You seem a bit out of it."

"Oh," said Scorpius, his voice soft then stern. "No, sorry, not feeling well. I don't want to fight James. Can we not do that?"

"Yeah," agreed Albus. "He's the head of the duelling club for a reason, it'd be a waste of time even trying to beat him. Unless…"

"Oh no," groaned Scorpius under his breath but Stephanie was all ears for Albus's suggestion.

"Unless?" the girl prompted.

"Well, unless the three of us took him on at once?" suggested Albus. "None of us are any match for James but the three of us together could probably just about beat him."

"Why would he agree to fight the three of us?" pointed out Scorpius who was starting to look less affronted than before. Perhaps he _hadn't_ connected Albus's actions to his intentions after all, he thought with relief. "I mean, who agrees to those kinds of odds?"

"Gryffindors," answered Albus and Stephanie together.

"Not to mention James wanting the opportunity to show off," added Albus. "There'd never be an end to the bragging if he won, which he still might, by the way, unless we were really smart about it."

"Okay," agreed Scorpius. "Maybe he is mental enough to take the chance but why would he agree to give us the map? Wouldn't we need to have something he wants first?"

Albus and Stephanie exchanged a glance. Scorpius was right – as much as James would love the glory of beating three Slytherins at once it wouldn't be enough to secure them the map. Albus wracked his brain for anything that he had that James might want but he came up short. James had everything already.

"Alright," said Stephanie, "Maybe it needs some work but I can't think of anything else. Do you think he'd give up the map for a one-on-one duel? Considering we're all way less experienced than him, I mean."

"Probably," answered Albus.

"But we've already agreed that none of us can beat him," emphasised Scorpius. "Can we please move on from this awful idea?"

"We could all practise," proposed Stephanie. "Then we would have three chances to get the map instead of just one."

"Oh come on!" exclaimed the blond boy in frustration. "We can't take on James Potter! We don't even know if he'll even accept a deal like that, you're just assuming. We don't even know why you need the stupid map – why are we even helping you!"

"Oh calm down Malfoy," snapped Stephanie. "You were more than happy when I asked and now because you might need to get your hands dirty you're going to change your mind. I can see now why you aren't a hufflepuff – you've got about as much loyalty as a house elf in a trenchcoat."

"Well maybe you should go ask some Hufflepuffs to help you then," argued Scorpius and suddenly Albus had the impression that his friend's anger was about more than the notion of being asked to duel James. Was this Albus's fault? "What do you think, Albus?"

"I think," he glanced between the two opposing students who looked ready to hex each other – or him should he make the wrong decision. "I think we should talk about it in the morning. Dinner must nearly be over and everyone will be coming back soon."

"Fine," said Stephanie, turning on her heel and marching away from them towards the girls' dormitory.

"What was that about?" asked Albus once the girl had left. "I thought you liked her?"

"I do," said Scorpius. "She just – I don't know – caught me at a bad time I guess."

Albus regarded his best friend for a moment and wondered whether this had anything to do with what had been about to occur between them when Stephanie interrupted. He was desperate to talk about it, to tell Scorpius what he was feeling and explain why he had been acting so odd. However, the fear of losing him was too great for Albus to risk opening up so he held his mouth firmly closed on the matter.

"Come on," said Albus, walking towards the boys dormitories as the passageway opened and a throng of students began to flood into the common room. "She may be an idiot but she gave me an idea."

Once they were alone again, in their dormitory, Scorpius reaffirmed that he had no interest in duelling a seventh year. Albus assured him that it was a last resort and that he was more concerned with getting the map for themselves than the girl.

"So what great idea did Stephanie just give you," asked Scorpius sitting at the foot of his bed and watching Albus nervously wringing his hands. "Because, I'll be honest, I don't think her ideas are all that good, really."

"Well," started Albus, "when she called you a house elf it reminded me of something. It's a long shot and could be really embarrassing if it goes pear-shaped but it's worth a try."

"It depends what it is," agreed Scorpius, narrowing his eyes.

"I know a house elf that works in the kitchen," said Albus. "Well, I know of her. My dad got her fired from her old job when he was still at school and she became an alcoholic but my Aunt Hermione started a house elf rehab centre, like, years ago and she's sober now and working in the kitchens though I think she might have a touch of dementia because last I saw her she was trying to make tea with the iron…"

"Albus slow down," laughed Scorpius. "How is a drunk house elf going to help us?"

"Ex-drunk house elf actually," corrected Albus. "She could go to Gryffindor common room – so we wouldn't have to break in – and take a message to James. That way we can let him know that Lily's up to something – we won't have to deal with Rose – and, with any luck, he'll give us the map and get Stephanie off our backs for five minutes."

"Okay," agreed Scorpius. "I'm in. This is a much better plan than getting into a fight."

"I've never summoned a house elf before," said Albus. He was pretty sure you only had to call their name but he wasn't entirely convinced that the elf would even respond to him and he had become rather self-conscious around Scorpius as of late and he didn't want to look foolish. "Winkie," he murmured clumsily.

"I think you need to be a bit louder," said Scorpius with an amused grin. "If I can't hear you from across the room how will she hear you in the kitchens?"

"This is embarrassing," admitted Albus. "I don't think she'll even answer, she always blamed my dad for getting her fired, she probably hates us." Scorpius just looked at him in a way that ensured Albus that Scorpius was enjoying the train wreck he was now witnessing and also that he must continue. "Winkie," he called out. Nothing changed except that Scorpius's smile became a snicker. "Winkie!" he called again. And again. And again to no avail. This had been a ridiculous idea. "There's no point."

"Winkie!" Scorpius joined in and after several minutes, and a chorus of the elf's name from the two of them, a tiny elf with grey hair sprouting from her ears tumbled into the room in a puff of smoke.

"Winkie is hearing," complained the elf, dusting off the powder-blue silk nightdress that hung awkwardly on her skinny frame. "Winkie is not deaf."

"Hello Winkie," said Albus excitedly exchanging a glance with Scorpius. "I'm Albus," he began as the elf started scrunching up her big, cloudy oval eyes to get a look at him. She was very old and, whilst she claimed not to be hard of hearing, there was no denying her eyesight was deteriorating.

"The boy is speaking up," yelled the elf loudly, making Scorpius jump. "Winkie is not deaf but Winkie is not hearing. The boy looks like Harry Potter. The boy is having his eyes."

"Right," agreed Albus and, after receiving an encouraging nod from Scorpius, continued more loudly. "I'm Albus. Harry is my dad. I called you up to ask for a favour, my dad told me you were friends with Kreacher."

"Winkie is not talking to Kreacher," she folded her tiny arms and turned away from the two boys. "Kreacher is not visiting with Winkie any more." Scorpius raised a questioning eyebrow at Albus who mouthed 'he's dead'.

"Er," started Albus awkwardly, not knowing how to break the news that Kreacher the house elf (who was Albus's only connection to Winkie) had died nearly twelve years ago - without hurting her feelings. He looked over to Scorpius for assistance but he just shrugged uncomfortably. A cruel thought occurred to Albus and he hoped Scorpius wouldn't judge him too harshly for it. "I think my brother knows what happened to Kreacher. He's up in the Gryffindor common room…"

"The boy is speaking UP!" the house elf reminded him irritably.

"Right, sorry!" Albus yelled back. "If you take a message to my brother, he'll tell you where Kreacher is!" Scorpius looked very uncomfortable and Albus felt like horrible person. "So will you help me?" The house elf seemed to consider the offer then nodded and told him to write the message down and she would carry it. He quickly scribbled that he urgently needed to speak with James first thing in the morning and to meet him before breakfast. As soon as the parchment was in the elf's hand she vanished. "Am I the worst?"

"Pretty much," agreed Scorpius as he changed into his pyjamas, Albus had taken to gazing up into the lake while Scorpius was undressing so his eyes didn't betray his feelings – although he wasn't certain that he hadn't already demonstrated his feelings earlier by the fire. Every time he replayed the event his stomach churned with embarrassment. "But I think James is probably a better person to break the news to her than we are. He's good with girls. I'm no good with girls. Terrible with them really."

"Yeah, me too," agreed Albus. "I fancied a psychopath who tried to murder me, my best friend and my entire family."

"And I fancied your cousin," said Scorpius. "It doesn't really sound all that much in comparison, does it?"

"Nope," said Albus. "I think I win on that count. And what do you mean 'fancied'? Don't you still fancy her?"

"I don't think I ever _really_ fancied her, Albus," admitted Scorpius. Albus felt his heart jump as he took in this information. Was he being serious? How could he only just be saying this now after all the times Rose had driven Albus crazy with jealousy? Scorpius _had_ just said that he had _never_ really fancied her and, as far as Albus could remember, he had never mentioned fancying anyone else. Maybe he didn't like girls either? "I guess I just liked the idea of ending up with Rose because she was the only girl to talk to us for so long, even if it was just to mouth off at us. And it would mean…" he stopped as Richard Carrow entered with one of the Falconer twins – Albus had never paid enough attention to them to be able to tell them apart. It was strange to see so few of their group together for they were far less menacing while separated.

"Alright?" Carrow nodded in their direction. "Reg, did you remember to pick up our potions essay?" The big lump of a boy grunted in affirmation, pulling a slightly torn roll of parchment with a sickly red-brown stain on one side, something which made Carrow smirk fiendishly, that the brute had obviously taken from somebody else. "Nice one. You two aren't planning on being loud and annoying all night again are you?" he said as he shoulder off his robes, letting them fall to the floor without any concern. "I'd really like to sleep for once."

"I can brew you a sleeping draught if you want," said Albus. "Don't be too concerned if your throat swells up or you grow an extra arm, it's a common side-effect I'm sure."

"I'm sure it is," said Carrow, narrowing his eyes. "Reg, you do divination, did you see Potter's bed on fire in the near future?"

"No," said Reggie. "I saw a lump of tea leaves at the bottom of a cup."

"We're threatening him you idiot," snapped Carrow irritably. "Do you think I really give a shit about your proficiency in an outdated practice?" He turned back to Albus and Scorpius. "Just keep the noise down or I'll curse you."

"Okie-dokie," nodded Scorpius. "We'll just be here, making no noise. Keeping it to a minimal. Not getting cursed sounds fine to me."

"Shut up Malfoy," snapped Carrow again then looked at them expectantly. "Either get to bed or get out of my face."

They chose to spend a few more hours awake in the common room. Albus had protested that he wasn't afraid of Carrow and that he could probably out-curse him blindfolded (an obvious lie but he wasn't prepared to admit it) but their potions assignment needed some finessing anyway. By the time the common room had cleared, they were both struggling to stay awake: each waiting on the other suggesting that they go to bed. Albus had a gut feeling that Scorpius had something he wanted to say. Or had Scorpius picked up on the fact that Albus had something he wanted to talk about and was doing Albus the curtesy of giving him the chance to talk about it? Albus had no intention of saying what was on his mind so he continued the game of chess they had begun after giving up on their assignment until the time came where they could neither keep their eyes open nor find another reason to stay awake.

The first thing Albus saw when he woke up, in the early hours of the morning, was a shock of black hair and his mother's eyes leaning over him. Heart hammering, he sat up so fast his forehead collided with his unexpected guest's, making his teeth rattle in his skull. Rubbing the tender point of contact, his eyes adjusted to the green glow of the lake streaming through the small circular window set into the far wall which was just light enough to illuminate the handsome features of his brother, James. His dormmates were snoring in the background, undisturbed by the intruder.

"James," whispered Albus harshly. "You can't be in here, this is the _Slytherin_ dormitory."

"I'm head boy," James pointed out, gesturing for Albus to shift up so he could take a seat on the edge of the bed. "I can do what I like." Albus tutted irritably under his breath as he scooted up into a sitting position. "In any case, it's important: you need to talk to me," James mused. "Wasn't 'urgently' the word you used?"

Albus rubbed his eyes and leaned forward out of interest. "Er," began Albus, "right, of course. What time is it?" It was little past five in the morning and he realised he must only have been asleep for a few hours – he hadn't expected James to respond so eagerly to his note but, now that his brother was there, the need to talk about Lily raced through his nerves and he felt suddenly very alert. "Since when have you ever taken anything I have to say so seriously?"

"Since now," retorted James loudly without missing a beat. He glanced over his shoulder to ensure his exclamation hadn't woken any of the other students. When he resumed talking it was in a distressed whisper. "Now will you stop being a git and tell me why I'm here?" The older Potter rubbed his forehead in frustration, or perhaps it was sore from being bashed by Albus's; the younger of the two brothers folded his arms and leaned against his headboard and began talking only to be silenced by James. "Not here, come through to the common room. I don't want to wake up any of your," he paused as if looking for a better word than 'friends', "colleagues."

Albus glanced over at Scorpius briefly, sound asleep, as he acquiesced to his brother's command. He wrapped his dressing gown around his shoulders to combat the cold of the early hour as he followed James to the dark, empty common room. They stood by the emotionless, dead fire grate and James cast a muffliato charm, nervously checking over his shoulder once before deeming it safe to talk.

"So what's got your knickers in such a twist that you felt the need to send an emotionally distressed house elf to my bedroom?" asked James dropping into an armchair as naturally as if he were in his own common room. "I mean, I know you're a Slytherin, Albus, but surely you're above practical jokes that involve me breaking an ex-slave's heart? Seriously, that elf was hysterical after she heard her boyfriend had croaked – she almost done me in with a sneakoscope." He pulled his t-shirt down to show off a bruise that was already beginning to show over his collar bone. "Or have you gone to the Dark Side? Odd move for a Potter. Are we nemesis -" he paused. "Nemesises? Nemeses? Whatever, I want you to think long and hard about your choices little brother." He folded his arms and crossed his legs as he laid back in the armchair – his whole posture mocking his brother.

"Very funny," replied Albus sarcastically. "How else was I supposed to get a message to you without telling the whole school?"

"You could have sent Lancelot," stated James referring to Albus's owl. " _He's_ never tried to kill me before and he almost never cries about his lovers all night – yes I've been with the elf since you sent her in case you're wondering."

"Well, sorry my common room is under the lake," scoffed Albus. "You might not have realised but owls are rarely great swimmers."

"The owlery isn't that far away, you know, and Gryffindor tower isn't under the lake," muttered James. "Are you going to sit down? You're making me uncomfortable looming over me and pulling that face."

"I'm not pulling a face!" shouted Albus. James winked and claimed that Albus must have just got all the 'bad genes' off their parents; he had always had a knack for winding him up. Their mother had spent the best part of the last fifteen years breaking up arguments that James had started ('from a place of love'). Albus took a seat on the coffee table in front of his brother, breathed deeply and lowered his voice. "I thought the house elf might have got the point across a bit better than an owl you would have ignored."

"What makes you think I would have ignored your owl?" he asked before sarcastically adding, "My dear, favourite brother."

"I'm your only brother," replied Albus and rubbing his temples in frustration: this conversation was getting carried away with itself. "You always ignore my owls."

"You never send my any," argued James with a smirk.

"I'm very sorry," Albus conceded sarcastically. "Now can we please talk about why you're here? If you're done torturing me of course."

"You smell like a bad polyjuice potion," answered James. "Okay, I'm done. What's the problem?"

"It's about Lily," said Albus after briefly gritting his teeth. "She's up to something." He waited for James to say something but the older boy just looked blankly at him as if waiting for more. "What are you looking at me like that for? She's been acting like a total bitch."

"You sent a savage house elf to my room to tell me a thirteen year old girl has an attitude problem?" said James, his eyes wide in shock – or was it anger? "It's not all that uncommon, Albus." He made to stand up.

"No!" protested Albus loudly causing James to slide back into his chair. "She's involved in something that's stupid – or even dangerous – and is going to get herself into serious trouble if we don't do something about it."

"Okay," said James now rubbing _his_ temples as he processed what Albus was saying. "I'm listening. This better not be some joke, Albus, or I will hurt you. I will hurt you so bad because I don't have time for this."

"No joke, I swear," said Albus putting his hands up. He had never realised how intimidating James could be when he wasn't joking around. He regaled James with the story of what he and Scorpius had overseen in the library: Lily arguing with William, the botched memory charm, not turning up at meal times and the way she had threatened Scorpius and him outside the hospital wing. "Not to mention she was with Richard Carrow! If that doesn't start the alarm bells ringing I don't know what will."

"I heard about William at the prefect meeting tonight. Hufflepuff boy, am I right?" asked James as he pondered the situation. Albus nodded. "And you're sure it was her?" he asked. Albus nodded again, his face grim. James leaned back in his chair once again. "So what should we do? Obviously you came to me instead of McGonagall for a reason."

"Well," said Albus. "Something just doesn't feel right about it. I mean, she was crying when we ran into her so maybe there's more to it than her just being a rotten little cow?"

"I guess you could be right," agreed James. "If it's something personal, telling McGonagall might send her over the edge and make things worse," he caught Albus's questioning eye and clarified, "teenage girls can be pretty irrational if you don't walk around on eggshells for them. You did the right thing telling me, now we just need to find a way of keeping an eye on her."

"You're going to make me say it aren't you?" asked Albus irritably. "You have an enchanted map of the castle! Keeping an eye on her is hardly going to be an issue for you now, is it?"

"The map!" said James through a laugh. "Of course! Why didn't I think of the map!" he exclaimed sardonically. "Except that dad confiscated it pretty much as soon as I stole it from him. So no, there's no map. Well…"

"Well?" probed Albus. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"There is sort of a map," began James. "It's not like the one dad has. Uncle George and his twin started making a second map when they were at Hogwarts – like an upgraded version – but they never finished it because the magic is actually pretty complicated. Our cousin Fred found it his dormitory last year before he left, though he didn't manage to do much with it."

"So it's gone then?" asked Albus, slightly downhearted.

"No," replied James. "Roxanne has it and she's much better at charms than Fred. I think she's made it her goal to finish it before she leaves – like a Weasley legacy or something. She's almost there, I'm sure. She has the castle mapped out and it knows where everyone is, it just doesn't know _who_ everyone is." He saw that he had lost Albus somewhere along the lines of his brief explanation and made a big song and dance about how stupid Albus was before explaining. "Dad's map has name-tags; Roxanne's doesn't."

"Well at least we won't have to duel you for it," said Albus after he let out a sigh of resignation. "Scorpius will be pleased."

"I know," said James before he realised what Albus had said. "Wait what? Duel me?" He burst into a roaring laughter that Albus felt was a little harsh. "You were going to try to duel me. That's hilarious. Okay, back to Lily, I'll speak with Rose," he shushed as Albus groaned in protest. "What? She's the closest of all of us to Lily, it would be daft not to involve her. Why are you so against her anyway? You two used to be so close."

"Never mind," replied Albus without really thinking. He hardly wanted to explain how he had fallen out with Rose – again – because he had been jealous of Scorpius's feelings for her. He thought about it again as he remembered Scorpius saying that he really didn't have feelings for Rose anymore. James stood up while Albus was still deep in thought.

"Don't worry, Albus," said James, snapping him out of his daydream. "We'll sort out whatever is going on with Lily. You and Scorpius can keep an eye on this Carrow boy and we'll watch Lily like a hawk, it'll be like a family project. Now I'm going to get my hands on some rejuvenation potion before classes start." He said goodbye and made to leave the common room but Albus was suddenly on his feet and calling his brother to wait. James turned around with a confused look on his face – confused and tired. Albus wasn't sure what had possessed him to ask James to stay – it had been an impulse – but he swallowed the fear that had risen in his body as soon as he'd made the decision.

"B-Before you g-go," he said, stammering slightly as nerves got the better of him. "Can I ask you for some advice?" He made eye contact with James's shoes, not daring to look into his brother's eyes. "I don't think I can talk to anyone else about it and it's driving me crazy." He felt his face grow warm with embarrassment as his question lingered on the tip of his tongue and he began to debate whether speaking to James was really the best thing to do.

"Oh?" James looked surprised but he turned fully to face Albus who was fidgeting with the hem of his t-shirt. "Sure, go ahead."

"Well," Albus hesitated, looking up at his brother's face momentarily. "I think I like someone." He fixed his gaze back onto James's shoes as he thought about all the weird feelings he had been having around Scorpius. "I mean, like, more than a friend."

"I suggest you ask this one if she's the daughter of any dark wizards _before_ you ask her out," said James playfully with a smirk, earning him a glare that would have killed him had it been a curse.

"James!" Albus pleaded finally, frustration creeping into his tone. "I'm serious."

"Well," said James after a slight pause. "Does she like you back? And is it Stephanie Rutherford? Because if it is, she definitely likes you back."

"Funny that, Scorpius thinks so too…" said Albus, getting side-tracked. "Wait. What? Stephanie Rutherford? Am I the only person who doesn't think she fancies me? No. It isn't her."

"That's a shame," said James. "It'd make your life easier if you just fancied her back."

"I know, right?" agreed Albus under his breath, James raising an eyebrow in response. "You've been going out with Lorna for ages now." Lorna Morris was a sixth year Gryffindor. Albus had met her once but knew next to nothing about her other than that she was a chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team.

"Right," James confirmed, waiting for Albus to elaborate on the statement.

"Well," asked Albus, fully aware that he must have been as red as a tomato and still determined not to make eye contact with his brother. "How did you bring it up? Did you know she would say yes? What would you have done if she had said no? Do you think you would have still been friends afterwards?"

James's eyes widened slightly when Albus finally looked up into them and his stance softened as he clearly realised Albus's problem. "I think I see what your trying to tell me," said James slightly awkwardly. They had never talked about girls – or boys in this case – together and Albus suddenly regretted letting the information slip. "You're talking about Scorpius aren't you? I always kind of figured you were a -"

"Shut up James, this is all new to me." Albus let his eyeline drop to the floor again as he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," he muttered. "Maybe. Would it really be such a bad thing if I did?"

"I don't know what to say, Albus," said James, his voice quivering slightly. There was a deafening silence and the atmosphere was thick with awkwardness. After a few moments James spoke again. "Do you know for sure? That you're…you know?"

Albus looked up at him, certain that his eyes were betraying his sadness. "No," he admitted finally after what felt like an eternity. "I mean yes, I am," his heart thumped as he admitted it. "I mean, I don't really know what my feelings are anymore."

"All I can say," said James, seriously. "And it's probably something you're not going to like but if you don't _talk_ to him about it, you'll never know."

"You could ask him," said Albus hopefully but a look from James told him it wasn't going to happen. "No, you're right, I'd need to do it myself."

James smiled at him. "You know, nothing will change between us," said James. "I'll still ignore you at dinner, whether you're gay or not."

"You're not really helping," said Albus trying not to smile. His heart was racing and his palms were sweating. Despite not receiving any of the answers he wanted, his brother's words had managed to alleviate his nerves slightly.

James opened his mouth to respond but a creek from the stairway to the boys' dormitories startled the pair of them. Albus hastily nudged James towards the common room entrance. James gave him an apologetic look that assured him they'd finish their conversation soon before fleeing from the common room he shouldn't have been in. The door swung open with its usual squeaky hinges growling through the quiet room. Without thinking, Albus flung himself onto the couch, the sharp corner of an abandoned book stabbing his thigh. He silently cursed whoever had left it there.

Scorpius appeared at the doorway, staggering sleepily into the room in his pyjamas stumbling over the rug. He glanced around the room, his half-lidded eyes widening briefly as they fell on Albus. He smiled a drowsy grin before wrapping his arms around his shivering body. He seemed fragile in the dark room, his pale skin almost translucent in the greenish glow; light appeared to refract haphazardly off his hair, making it look silver. He was radiant. Albus swallowed a lump, of what he could only describe as dread, that had formed in his throat as James's words resonated in his mind. How could he talk to him about his feelings when the boy before him was literally taking his breath away?

"Morning," blurted Albus clumsily, the words tripping over his tongue. "You look…um…shiny." _Really Albus? Shiny._ He berated himself. "I mean, the light…" He expected to look up to a confused Scorpius but was happy to see his best friend was smiling as if it were a perfectly normal thing to say – though recently Albus suspected Scorpius had adjusted to hearing him say ridiculous things.

"Thanks," said Scorpius with a chitter. "I'm surprised I don't look like an ice cube – it's freezing in here. It's not like you to be up so early - you do realise it's not even six in the morning, right? Are you ill?"

"I was reading," said Albus quickly, too tired to think of a viable excuse.

"Wow, you _are_ ill," said Scorpius with an amateur-dramatic laugh, then he walked over to the coffee table where Albus had been sitting, thought better of it, and dropped down on to the sofa beside his best friend, tucking his bare legs under him on the still-cold black leather. "What were you reading?"

"Er," stammered Albus. Of course, there were no books in the proximity other than the one he was sitting on. He surreptitiously wriggled the copy of "The Joys of Rearing Unicorns by Felicity Callowfeather" out from under him. Scorpius looked at him expectantly and Albus – not prepared to pretend to be a unicorn enthusiast – told Scorpius about his conversation with James (missing out only the part about him).

"Ha!" exclaimed Scorpius. "There's no map! Take that Stephanie!" He was, as Albus had anticipated, very pleased that they would not be getting into any fights. "So now what will we do?" Albus was about to reply but was interrupted by a loud, violent sneeze from his best friend. "Sorry," said Scorpius. "That kind of hurt, that one."

"Are you getting sick?" inquired Albus "Sucks to be you."

"I think so," answered Scorpius. "The next time I see Peeves…" He didn't finish his sentence either because he didn't know what he would do or because he knew there was nothing he could do that would be of any effect.

"What do you think we should do?" asked Albus reverting back to Scorpius's question.

"I think we should either start up the fire or go back to sleep," said Scorpius and, within a moment, it was unanimous that they would go back to bed and skip breakfast that morning.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Peeves Vs Everyone**

Over the next few days, Albus and Scorpius were stuck under a torrential downpour of homework without an umbrella. When Albus's parents had dropped him off at King's Cross station they had told him that this would be his most challenging year at Hogwarts (they had also warned him to stay on the train lest he incur his mother's infamous wrath). He was beginning to see the truth to their words and was wondering if he might have been happier had he made a break for it again - the lack of stress, he was certain, would be worth a scolding from Ginny Potter. He day dreamed about slipping off the radar whilst pretending to read his transfiguration notes during their study period between charms and divination. He and Scorpius were sat at a desk under a window in the Slytherin common room that was a frequent attraction of the lake's grindylow population such that, every so often, they would find an ugly face pressed up against the glass to watch them scribbling notes. Scorpius found the creatures off putting and visibly startled every time he saw one.

"It's just because they appear out of nowhere," the blond boy protested at Albus's laughter as, for the third time in the last half hour, one of the water-dwelling beasts had thumped on the window to get their attention and Scorpius had almost fallen from his chair with fright. "I mean, look at it," he gestured with his head, his lip curling with repulsion. "If it weren't evil it wouldn't have fangs. Or claws. In fact it would probably have fur and not live in the lake."

"Cats have claws and they're not evil," replied Albus, glad to talk about something unrelated to homework or magic. When they were studying, he couldn't look longingly into his best friend's eyes; but when they were talking…

"Are you kidding?" asked Scorpius. "Cats are the worst. I reckon Mouse would sell my soul for a tin of sardines."

"Maybe that's because you called him Mouse," said Albus. "He's just a thug so the other cats don't pick on him for having a stupid name."

"You really think it's a stupid name?" asked Scorpius. He paused to consider the situation, his face a mixture of thoughtful and adorable. "You're right, I've done this to him, haven't I?"

"Yep," said Albus. "Most assuredly. You call him Mouse and he calls you the Queller of Dreams."

"I don't think so," said Scorpius but he looked doubtful. "You're laughing at me again."

"I'm not!" said Albus, his face contorting to stifle the giggles that were threatening to escape from his mouth and failing miserably. "Okay, I am. Sorry. You're just so easy to wind up."

"And you're so easily distracted," said Scorpius. "We've been at this for ages and you've not turned the page once."

"Have you been watching me?" asked Albus, almost immediately wishing he hadn't. He had hoped it would sound suggestive in a funny way but he had panicked and it just sounded suggestive in a flirty way. A faint tinge of pink rose to the surface of Scorpius's cheeks for the briefest of moments but Albus was too busy berating himself to really notice it.

"Interesting spell isn't it?" said Scorpius after a moment of awkward silence. Since when did they have awkward silences? There had never been any silences between them before and it made Albus's stomach churn to think that their relationship was changing or that he was slowly losing his touch with his best friend. "Do you think we'll ever need to transfigure a daisy into a rose outside of class? Doesn't seem very useful to me – too flashy."

"Yeah it is," agreed Albus. He could not think of a single situation where he would need to use such an over complicated spell. Their transfiguration Professor was fond of spells that involved flowers and he was convinced it was because she never received any as a girl. "Honestly, I can't even pronounce it."

" _Spinaenim Datorem,"_ said Scorpius, waving his wand over the very dead-looking daisy that lay flattened between them. It glowed a hot white colour for the briefest of seconds then the petals intermittently turned pink but, in terms of species, it was no closer to a rose than it was an azalea. "Maybe I'm not saying it right either."

"No luck with that then?" came a voice they hadn't heard for a while. Looking thoroughly exhausted, Stephanie Rutherford appeared in view carrying a large codex of ancient runes under her arm. She had withdrawn from them slightly since her dispute with Scorpius but when she discovered the marauders map was not at Hogwarts, the loss of the item didn't seem to disappoint her all that much, in fact, when they spoke of it she seemed delighted that it wasn't at the school. "Mind if I sit?"

"Not at all," said Albus, shifting the books that were dumped on the otherwise empty seat at the table and unceremoniously discarded on the floor where they would remain untouched for the remainder of the session. Scorpius's lip seemed to stiffen as Stephanie sat down and he was evidently still upset about their disagreement but he said nothing on the matter and allowed the girl to join them. "In the nicest way, you look like death warmed up. Is it that time of the month again?"

"Charming as always, Albus," said Stephanie rolling her eyes, though Albus couldn't help but notice a look of concern briefly flash across her face. "Speaking of my female mood swings," she began, "I'm sorry for going a bit mental during the week, I was just too enthusiastic I guess."

"Apology accepted," said Scorpius after receiving a kick in the shin from Albus. Scorpius glared at him for a moment then turned his attention back to Stephanie. "I'm sorry we argued."

"Glad to hear it," she replied. "Now that we're all friends again I want to thank you both for trying to help me out even though it was a complete waste of time."

"Right," said Albus, exchanging a look with Scorpius. "Speaking of the map, have you found another way to guard whatever it was you were hiding?"

Stephanie flushed awkwardly before nodding and changing the subject to the news about the were-gnome roaming around the streets of Devon who had reportedly gained leadership of a gang of other "street-gnomes". They talked about classes, Stephanie demonstrated how to transfigure their dead daisy into a dead rose without any problems, then they got to talking about the upcoming pre-halloween party Slughorn was throwing for his favourites. Albus had forgotten all about it; Scorpius, it seemed, had not forgotten and was enthusiastically telling Stephanie about how Slughorn had invited them.

"That's pretty cool," said Stephanie. "Slughorn barely even knows I exist, though I'd love to go and see what all the fuss is about."

Albus had stopped paying attention and had turned to watching the pair of grindylows that had turned up at the window and were seemingly fighting over the best spot to watch them. He disagreed with what Scorpius had said about them being evil. To Albus they looked no more threatening than a kneazle in a bad mood. He thought about Slughorn's party for the first time since they had been invited. He and Scorpius would go together, obviously, but he wished that they could go _together_ and he wanted Scorpius to ask him so he wouldn't have to put himself through all the anxiety about his best friend's response. His mind then turned to Scorpius in dress robes and then turned to Scorpius out of dress robes…

"Albus," whispered Scorpius from across the table, "you're drooling."

"Wha-?" he replied sitting up straight and wiping his wet mouth in humiliation. "Thanks. What happened to Stephanie?" He had looked around to find the girl had vacated her seat.

"She had to go to class," said Scorpius, "and so do we, remember? Divination? Any of this ringing a bell?"

"Oh," said Albus, horrified to realise that his daydream had stirred more than his thoughts. He crossed his legs under the table and willed for his uncomfortable anatomical situation to dissipate but, naturally, as Scorpius stood he had to stretch causing his scruffy untucked shirt to rise and expose a strip of skin above his waistband - Albus had no hope in hell. He glanced down at his open bag, ripped out his divination text book and furtively held it in front of his middle as he followed Scorpius from the dormitory.

"Are you sure you don't want to bring your bag?" asked Scorpius. "No doubt Madame Bellefrost will send us back with a crystal ball or something."

"Well, I'll just be extra careful when I carry it then," said Albus still fighting the strain in his lower half.

"She's going to kill me," said Albus after watching the ornate crystal ball, which he had been allocated in class, shatter in to a million pieces at the foot of the dungeon staircase. "What are the chances I can fix this with reparo?" Scorpius stammered an awkward 'don't know' and they both became hot in the head as their classmates gathered to gawk at Albus's hilarious misfortune. "Oh piss off!" The crowd of Slytherins sniggered as they dispersed deeper into the dungeons and left them to it, all except for Artemis Smith from the quidditch team who offered to help them find all the pieces. Once they had managed to locate every tiny fragment, he suggested that they take it to the Charms professor in the morning as he had helped Artemis out of a similar situation in the past. "Thanks for the help Artemis," began Albus. "What do you want from us?"

"Oh nothing," the handsome seventh year began before rolling his eyes. "The quidditch team is still short a seeker – I mean we've got the best of a bad bunch picked out but I'm not announcing her till you've tried out for us."

"Hilarious," said Albus and Scorpius actually let out a quiet snicker at the thought of Albus playing quidditch. Albus glared at his best friend before returning to Smith. "What's given you this idea that I am any good at Quidditch?"

"Your dad is legendary," began Artemis. "He was the first in a –"

"Yeah, yeah," interrupted Albus, "the only student in a century to be chosen for a school team in first year - it's not really all that impressive."

"It's kind of impressive," admitted Scorpius, his eyes dropping as Albus slung yet another glare in his direction. He was adorable but infuriating at the same time.

"Walk with me, boys," said Artemis as the returned to their descent into the bowels of the school. "Look at it this way: your dad was an epic quidditch player, he was practically begged by half the teams in England to play professionally; your mum was the best captain in Hollyhead Harpies history and your brother and sister are the only decent players on the Gryffindor team so don't even try to tell me that you have no experience," he paused, looking Albus up and down such that he felt thoroughly exposed, "and, as a side-note, you're built like a seeker."

"Well," said Albus, his head spinning with all the facts and assumptions that had just been thrust upon him. How desperate was the team that they had stooped to begging the "slytherin squib" to try out? They had arrived at the entrance to the common room and Artemis was looking at him, expectantly, for an answer. He looked at Scorpius who raised his eyebrows. "Fine," he agreed, deciding that trying out would be better than having Smith hound him for the rest of the week. "Does your stupid ape-face co-captain know you're asking me? Last I remember all he wants to do is make dumb jokes about me."

"It's actually me he always laughs at," corrected Scorpius, raising a hand awkwardly then turning rose-pink in the face and biting his lip to shut himself up.

"Yeah," said Albus as he thought about it. "Well, if I do this, it stops. Whether you think I'm good enough for the team or not, Marroway keeps his opinions about me and Scorpius to himself."

"Woah," said Artemis withdrawing comically from the angry fifth year. Chortling, he agreed, gave the password and allowed them entry to the common room before him. "Ten o'clock tomorrow morning. Be there…And for the record, Potter," said Smith as he headed towards the fireplace and his girlfriend for that week, "it was Marroway who suggested you."

Albus was dumbstruck, his mouth fell open as he watched the older boy saunter away. He must have looked foolish for, a moment later, Scorpius had reached out and tapped him on the chin, the contact startling Albus so much that his mouth snapped shut and he almost severed his tongue in half. Scorpius laughed then led the way to their dormitory to deposit their belongings before heading out for their ubiquitous Friday night detention. On Fridays, they reported to Hagrid with whom they were supposed to help tend the grounds but often sat in his cabin, drinking tea and playing card games with the half giant. That night was to be one of the latter however, instead of playing cards, the gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures professor was giving them extra tuition on his lessons whilst encouraging them to eat cakes of brick-like consistency with their tea.

By the time their detention was over and they had ingested their limit of stale confectionary, they bade farewell to their favourite professor and begin the trek back up to the castle. Being the end of October, night had fallen hours before and the air was bitter with cold. Albus hated the cold, by the time they had reach the magnificent double doors his fingers were numb. Scorpius chittered as he shakily pulled on the great iron door handle but his eyebrows raised in confusion as the door refused to budge.

"Let me try," said Albus and Scorpius took a step back to give him access to the door. Albus gave it an experimental tug before pulling with all his force but the door simply would not give. "Why have they locked the doors? It can't be much past nine and McGonagall must know we're not in the castle."

"Unless it's not her who locked the doors," said Scorpius thoughtfully. Glancing up, his eyes widened and he grabbed Albus by the shoulders. "Move!" Albus had no time to process what was happening before he was being pulled to the ground on top of Scorpius. An almighty crash sounded inches from where they had been standing and half a gargoyle lay in broken bits of stone. A silver wisp roared an angry guttural noise from high above them then disappeared back into the castle.

"Did Peeves just try to kill us?" asked Albus as the two boys detangled from each other and sat up. Just as they regained their composure, Albus heard Scorpius's breath hitch and felt his own heart stop for a second as the remainder of the gargoyle came tumbling down from the rampart high above them, bits of gravel rolled innocently towards the feet after the impact. Albus sighed in relief and leaned back against Scorpius's chest till his heart beat returned to its regular rate – he could still feel Scorpius's heart hammering away through his robes by the time they had stood and dusted themselves off and he only regretted that the memory would be forever tainted by the near death experience they had just suffered. "No but seriously, was that Peeves?"

"I want to go home all of a sudden," said Scorpius who was looking even paler than usual. "I didn't think he was the killing sort, you know? A bucket of ice water I can put up with but bits of castle is where I draw the line." Miraculously, this time when he pulled on the door it groaned open as it usually did. They drew their wands on the off chance that they might run into the deranged spectre on their short journey to the dungeons. "Get back!" yelled Scorpius aiming his wand as a transparent form flashed through the wall beside them.

"Put that thing away before you hurt yourself, boy!" barked the Bloody Baron. "Name five spells that'll impede a ghost!" The Slytherin house ghost let out a dry laugh as Scorpius lowered his trembling hand; Albus did the same. "Just as I thought. Don't just stand there, I am positive you were almost wearing stone as a headpiece, I daresay you do not wish a repeat performance."

"You don't say," snapped Albus irritably. "If I see him I'll…"

"You'll do what, boy?" barked the Baron. "We have already established that you are both positively too dull-witted to take on a cursed poltergeist."

"Cursed?" asked Scorpius, jumping as a door banged somewhere in the distance, followed by the sound of sparks. "How does someone curse a poltergeist?"

"With a lot of effort and dangerous magic," replied the ghost through gritted teeth. "The faculty have been informed and are regaining control of the situation. I will be needed once they restrain him but I will return you both to your common room first. Do keep up."

He swept through the closed door to the dungeon stairwell, the boys nearly tripped over themselves in an attempt to keep up. They speculated under their breath about why someone would attack a ghost: Albus pointing out that nearly every student in the castle had motive to harm Peeves.

"I could understand wanting to harm Peeves," said Scorpius, "but who would want to make him harm someone else. That's the scary part. No joke, Albus, I'm terrified."

"Need me to hold your hand?" joked Albus. His heart rate picked up, however, when Scorpius's cold fingers were wrapped around his own and he was being pulled towards the common room so fast that he could hardly take in all the sensations adrenaline was triggering as it surged through his veins: fear, lust, excitement and anxiety were all flashing through his entire body, none of them knowing which should take charge in that moment.

They hurtled through the gap in the wall and stood hand-in-hand facing a nervous looking crowd of students. Albus despaired as their linked hands fell apart once more but he was aware that everyone had noticed it and he was certain that rumours would probably start now about a relationship he wished was real.

"Albus! Scorpius!" Stephanie came barging through the crowd toward them and threw her arms around their necks. "I was so worried. Some students were attacked – they're in the hospital wing – they said that Peeves did it!"

"Yeah he tried to drop half the roof on us," confirmed Albus. "We're okay though, you can let go."

Stephanie flushed red as she removed her arms from them. The crowd had lost interest and had returned to muttering anxiously about the chilling turn of events. It was as if a serial killer was on the loose and each of them was expecting him to burst through the wall or the ceiling at any moment. The girl ushered them away from the crowd and perched on the arm of an empty armchair an claimed she was too uneasy to sit down.

"What would make the ghosts go crazy?" she asked, biting her nails. Albus noticed that her exhaustion from earlier seemed to have deepened, her face looked drawn and skeletal and she had large bags under her eyes. "Do you think they're having some sort of undead uprising? It's happened before."

"In the seventeenth century?" asked Scorpius before shaking his head. "I think that was zombies, not ghosts. It's not in their nature to do anything other than mope around, really. And Peeves technically isn't a ghost."

"Right," said Albus, although he had no idea what Scorpius was talking about. Weren't poltergeists the same as ghosts but more annoying? "The Bloody Baron seemed fine."

"Really?" asked Stephanie. "I guess it must just be Peeves then, if any of the ghosts were going to start an uprising my money'd be on the Baron."

"Peeves isn't a ghost!" said Scorpius again – adamant to prove he knew something academic (and relevant) for once. "Ghosts are dead, Poltergeists were never alive."

"What do you know about ghosts, Malfoy," chimed in Richard Carrow from nowhere, though he seemed genuinely interested in the subject. "Other than how to become one, I mean."

"Er," said Scorpius clearing his throat. "When someone dies if they have unfinished business…"

"I know what a ghost is, smartass," said Carrow rolling his eyes. "What makes a poltergeist so different?"

"I'm pretty sure he just told you, asshole," snarled Albus. "Or did the words get lost in the cavern between your ears?"

"You really want to fight again, Potter?" answered Carrow. "I mean, your nose looks like it's healed since last time, would be a shame to make a mess of it again."

"That's brave seeing as your pals aren't here to back you up this time," said Albus. "And mine are."

"Whatever, squib," spat Carrow before turning back to Scorpius, all the venom that was in his voice when he spoke to Albus was gone. "So other than not being a dead person, are there any other differences?"

"Pretty much everything is different," said Scorpius. "As far as I know the only thing they have in common is how they look."

"Why are you so interested, Carrow?" asked Stephanie. "Were you hoping to be a poltergeist when you die? Sorry to let you down."

Carrow tutted and muttered something vile under his breath before disappearing back into the crowd. Albus watched the back of his head till he was out of sight. He was still convinced that Carrow was behind all of his sister's peculiar behaviour and all the questioning the boy was doing made his gut grumble. He was suddenly convinced that Carrow was involved in whatever was happening and that meant that Lily was probably involved too. He was grinding his teeth until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked around and Scorpius was now nodding towards the entrance where Horace Slughorn had appeared, likely to update everyone on the situation outside.

"Settle down," he boomed, his white moustache curling as he expelled the words. "Yes that means you too Smith…And merlin's beard get a hair cut boy you're starting to look like your Aunt Matilda ( remember to thank her for the drakeskin gloves, by the way, the old bones appreciate it - especially at this time of year). What was I saying?" He paused, rocking back and forth on his heels. "Right, yes. Peeves has been apprehended so there's nothing to worry about. Be warned, foul magic has been cast (poorly might I add) and, I expect each of my students to pass the random, unannounced, wand checks that will be happening tomorrow morning in order to root out the culprit. Now, get yourselves to bed and, to those of you who'll be joining me for Halloween, see you tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Professor!" a girl shouted from near the fireplace, causing the old man to slowly turn back to his students.

"Yes, dear?" asked Slughorn politely.

"What about the other ghosts?" the voice quivered nervously. "Won't they get sick like Peeves?"

"He's not sick," barked Slughorn. "He was CURSED. I hope you all realise how serious this is. And to answer your question, no, the Hogwarts ghosts are perfectly fine apart from being dead – HO! You see Peeves is not a ghost, had he been a ghost, however, the curse may have had the desired effect but, fortunately these thickos don't know the difference between ghosts and poltergeists."

Albus glanced over at Scorpius who looked really proud of himself and Albus had the urge to reach over and hold his hand again, so that he could really feel it this time. His heart thumped as Scorpius caught his eye, saw him staring, then winked at him as if they were both in on the same joke but all it did was torment the beast in his chest that was desperate to break free and devour his best friend. He waited too long to wink back so he just smiled awkwardly then turned back to his head of house who was now divulging too much information about the curse that was cast and how it could have been recreated with better effect. He was truly too trusting of his students. Albus searched through the crowd to find Carrow whom he had expected to see nodding enthusiastically or taking notes but his vulpine face was nowhere to be seen.

"Mr Potter," said Slughorn, "I'm being informed that you are to come with me." A wisp of white smoke lingered briefly where Slughorn was standing as if a patronus had just vanished. Albus had seen his parents use them to send messages so he assumed that was what had transpired while he was preoccupied.

Albus shared a glance with Scorpius who looked like he wanted nothing more than to go with Albus but Albus just shrugged and told him he'd fill him in when he got back. Once the room had returned to its normal chatter, Albus moved to follow the professor but Scorpius's hand was around his wrist. Stephanie looked between the two boys with mild interest.

"Can we talk when you get back," he said. "I mean, I know you said we would talk when you got back but I mean can we _talk_? You know?" Albus looked at Scorpius who could clearly see the confusion in his eyes so he tried to explain further. "As in I have something specific I would like to talk about and I would like to talk about it tonight. No I need to talk about it tonight. I mean…"

"Okay," said Albus, his chest tight and his stomach churning as he thought of all the things Scorpius might have to say to him and then thought about all the things he wanted to say to Scorpius but couldn't. Knowing his best friend he would berate him for arguing with Carrow again or for mouthing off at Smith. It was a conversation they often had about not provoking people that could easily take them down in a fight but Albus always made the same mistake. In the past he had enjoyed watching Scorpius's face twist and contort between concern, anxiety and anger. Nowadays, he was terrified that the telling off would lead to a real fall out. What if tonight were the last night he could call Scorpius a friend?

"Potter," yelled Slughorn, "come on, boy, we don't have all night."

Albus had followed Slughorn to a normally unused potions classroom. The professor unlocked the door for him then bade him goodnight without any further explanation. Confused and feeling more than awkward, Albus contemplated simply returning to the common room as he slid onto a nearby desk to await the reason he had been summoned. He was just about to get up and leave when the door seemingly closed of its own volition. Naturally, his head conjured the idea that Peeves had returned to finish the job on him but once the door had clicked shut, his brother appeared out of nowhere holding a shiny cloak.

"James!" exclaimed Albus, startled and clutching his chest. James locked the door behind him and placed the invisibility cloak down on a table as he approached his younger brother. "What's going on? Why are we here?"

"Hello to you too," replied James sarcastically. "Or are we past greeting each other like civilised wizards?"

"Hello James," said Albus groaning irritably – they had been reunited mere seconds and James was already annoying him.

James seemed content with Albus's 'proper greeting', drew his wand from his robes and gave it a wave. The table beneath Albus tilted sideways and the boy slid from it onto wobbly legs with a loud protest and a rude gesture aimed at his brother. Once the table had returned to all four legs and Albus had regained his balance, James produced a blank sheet of paper from the inside pocket of his robes, unfolded it and spread it out on the table between them.

"I took what you said last time on board," said James before tapping the paper with his wand and saying: "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

"You bastard!" exclaimed Albus as ink began to appear on the page and a perfect map of Hogwarts Castle, filled with many labelled dots, drew itself. "You told me you didn't have the map."

"I tell you a lot of things," answered James with a smirk. "In any case, would you please take a look and tell me what you see."

Albus narrowed his eyes at his brother before peering down at the map. He instantly looked for Scorpius in the Slytherin common room and his heart gave a shudder as he saw his name, in tiny writing, alone in their dormitory. A pang of guilt flooded his system at the thought of Scorpius being alone. Other than that, he could see nothing out of the ordinary so he asked: "What exactly am I supposed to be looking for?"

"There's a name missing," said James. "Or six names to be precise."

"How am I supposed to know that?" grumbled Albus. "I hardly know the name of every student in the castle do I?"

"Well you know your sister's name, at least, don't you?" replied James, growing impatient. "Take another look."

Albus scoured the map for 'Lily Potter' but there was no sign of his sister on either side of the map. He checked again, then once more just to be sure but there was no change. He then immediately looked and saw that, as he had suspected, Carrow's name was also missing along with his band of followers.

"Where is she?" asked Albus.

"She's in the Gryffindor common room," replied James. Albus flipped the map over again to examine the rooms in Gryffindor Tower. "You won't find her. She's there but she isn't showing up on the map and neither are any of your Slytherin friends."

"They are not my friends," protested Albus. "And how can they not be on the map if they are in the castle? Is the map broken?"

"There's nothing wrong with the map," said James. "There's something wrong with them. I tried a homenum revelio charm and that didn't detect Lily either. They're masking themselves somehow."

"How?" asked Albus. "And why?"

James shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine," he said, "but I think you were right. There is definitely something going on there. I've spoken to Rose and we're going to be keeping a closer eye on Lily and I suggest you and Scorpius do the same with Carrow." He produced a Galleon and flipped it in Albus's direction who caught it despite being unprepared.

"Thanks?" said Albus, perplexed. "Are you in charge of my pocket money now or something?"

"If I were, the coin would be a lot smaller," retorted James. "Keep it in your pocket. If it gets hot, check the print on it and it'll tell you where I am. If that happens come and meet me as soon as possible."

"What if I spend it by accident?" asked Albus innocently.

"Then you are as thick as I've always suspected," said James with a hint of exasperation. "Just don't lose it and if you see anything weird, let me know."

"All right," agreed Albus, pocketing the coin. "Does Rose really have to be involved?"

"Let it go Albus," said James. "Rose isn't going to steal away your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!" shouted Albus, red in the face.

"That's a shame," said James. "I thought you had bigger balls than that." Albus told him to 'shove it' then watched as his brother disappeared under the invisibility cloak. "You can fill Scorpius in when you get back but make sure nobody hears you, if Carrow finds out we're watching them, they'll find a way to keep evading us. I'll be in touch."

The door unlocked, opened and James was presumably away, leaving Albus to process his thoughts. He hadn't expected James to actually take his word on the Lily situation but he was glad to see that someone was doing something about it. He was about to leave when he remembered the map was still on the table. He folded it up and slid it into his robe pocket silently thanking James with a grin – it wasn't often that his brother made a mistake but Albus was glad to profit from it.

When he had returned to the common room, he headed straight for the dormitory, remembering, with dread, that Scorpius had wanted to speak with him. His nerves were alight as he stood on the other side of the door, trying to come up with things he could say to his best friend to defuse whatever sorry situation he had gotten himself into this time. When he opened the door, the room was empty and Scorpius's bed curtains were firmly closed.

Quietly, Albus crept into the dark room, his ears straining to hear any indication that his best friend was still awake but he was disappointed to hear nothing. He sat on the edge of his own bed, looking resentfully at the green velvet drapes and cursing his brother.

"James," he whispered angrily. "Why do you always ruin everything?"

"Who are you talking to?" asked a voice from the doorway. Albus turned to see Scorpius clad in his pyjamas and standing in the door frame looking confused.

"I thought you were sleeping!" said Albus nodding towards the closed curtains.

"No," said Scorpius. "Bathroom. Anyway I was waiting up for you."

"Where is everyone else?" asked Albus stealthily looking around the room. Scorpius shrugged and Albus felt it was safe to tell his friend about everything James had said.

"How are we going to watch Carrow?" said Scorpius thoughtfully as he sat down beside Albus. "If we start hanging around him he'll know something is up."

Albus pulled out the map and put it in Scorpius's hands. The blond boy gasped as he took in the enchanted parchment then demanded that Stephanie was not to find out about it. Albus agreed but didn't quite see why it mattered. He opened his mouth to ask Scorpius what he had been wanting to talk about but Scorpius answered the question before Albus could ask it.

"I wanted to talk about something," said Scorpius. "And I think now is the best time – now that we're alone – I mean."

"If it's about arguing with that git Carrow again," said Albus. "I'm sorry, I try not to but he just makes my blood boil, Scorpius, you know that!"

"It's not about Carrow," he replied with a grin, his tone light-hearted. "I wanted to ask you something kind of personal." Albus shifted nervously as he nodded his agreement, wondering what Scorpius would have to ask him that had required scheduling. "Well, I know we talk about everything," he started, "but sometimes we don't talk about stuff."

"Don't we?" said Albus, his mouth going dry as the thought occurred to him that Scorpius was onto him. "I'm sure we talk about everything."

"You've been acting strange," said Scorpius. "More than usual, I mean." Albus felt his heart sink and tried not to let it show on his face. "Like sometimes we'll be talking and you'll go all quiet out of nowhere. Or, tonight for example, you wouldn't look me in the eye. Have I done something? Are you annoyed with me? Is it because we've been hanging around with Stephanie? I mean, it's all right if you like her. What's not to like? She's a pretty girl."

Albus's heart was hammering harder against his chest than it ever had before. Scorpius thought Albus was replacing him with Stephanie? It was ridiculous! He wanted to shout out how wrong his best friend was; he wanted to tell him the truth about why he was acting so strange - he wanted to tell him about his messed up, twisted feelings but, instead, he bit his tongue.

"Talk to me, Albus!" Scorpius's face was full of sorrow and his eyes were shimmering – an expression the likes of which Albus had not seen since Scorpius's mother's funeral. "I can't stand us not being open with each other. What could possibly be so bad that you can't talk to me? Haven't we always trusted each other?"

 _Sod it_ , thought Albus. He couldn't bear to see his friend so upset and his body took action while his mind was still alternating between furiously telling him to stop and forcefully egging him on: he took Scorpius's head between his hands and pulled their faces together. Their lips touched for a few heart beats then Albus pulled away, his entire body shaking uncontrollably as he processed what he had just done. He had kissed Scorpius Malfoy. He had kissed his best friend. He felt the colour drain from his face and, when he dared to look up, Scorpius was wide-eyed and speechless. Time passed by slowly as they sat in silence, the minutes dragging on like hours.

Finally, Scorpius broke the silence with a shaky voice. "You kissed me," he said, his fingertips tracing his mouth as he spoke. "You kissed me."

"Yeah," replied Albus solemnly as regret began to seep into every inch of his body, the action had felt so right but now, in the moments that followed, it felt so wrong. "I guess so."

"You kissed me," said Scorpius again, this time with vigour.

"You said that already," said Albus, the humiliation becoming unbearable as he bowed his head in shame.

"You kissed me!" said Scorpius again as he began to laugh. Albus's embarrassment grew then he looked up and the laughter became infectious and a grin edged its way onto his own face followed by a healthy chuckle. They went from sitting in the most awkward of silences to a joint fit of laughter so naturally that Albus hadn't even had time to try to understand why they were laughing.

The laughter subsided and the two friends sat side by side for a moment, the regret Albus had felt had dissipated and had been replaced with something new. He had kissed Scorpius and Scorpius wasn't annoyed with him. _He did laugh though_ , thought Albus suddenly concerned that perhaps laughter was an even worse reaction.

"Listen Scorpius," said Albus nervously as he began to attempt to define what he had just done. "I'm sorry, I just…"

Scorpius closed the gap between them and planted his lips firmly on Albus's again and Albus's insides liquefied momentarily. Now Scorpius was kissing _him_. He suddenly realised he must be dreaming. There was no way this could be happening. When Scorpius pulled away Albus was grinning stupidly.

"Wow," said Scorpius, sounding exasperated. "That was just, er, wow."

"So," began Albus, wanting to ask what the reciprocal action meant for their friendship but unable to find the words.

"Does this mean we kiss now?" asked Scorpius. "Like hugging but with our faces." He flinched as he thought about his wording. "Wait no, that's not what I meant," a pause. "Is it? I mean, do we kiss now? I mean, is that what you want? That's what I want," he paused again before adding hastily, "but only if it's what you want."

"I do want," said Albus immediately, eager to kiss Scorpius again.

Then he did. He wrapped his arms around Scorpius as they kissed, deeper this time, their lips parting as their bodies became entwined and, with every passing second, the kiss became more heated and their bodies pulsed together, their limb straining to pull each other closer. Albus was on top of Scorpius when they broke apart for air. Scorpius's lips were red like his cheeks and Albus was certain this was reflected in his own face. He lowered his head down to reclaim Scorpius's lips with his own but this kiss was short-lived as the dormitory door swung open and the boys sprung apart, each of them doing their best to look nonchalant as their dormmates sauntered in, grumbling something about money, and paid them no attention. They waited till they heard the sounds of curtains being drawn before Scorpius disdainfully retreated to his own bed.

They lay facing each other across the gap between their beds, Albus was trying not to grin like an idiot and Scorpius just looked peaceful. Scorpius fell asleep first and Albus soon after. He couldn't quite believe what had just transpired and he was fervently trying to put it out of his mind until morning, remembering how he had agreed to try out for the quidditch team and wishing he hadn't: it was just another excuse to make a fool of himself though, with a last glance at Scorpius, he felt like he could take on any challenge and make it through the other side.

In the morning, a string of events battered Albus like hail in a blizzard. Firstly he was awakened by Artemis Smith who was way too excitable for such an early hour on a Saturday morning. He woke Scorpius quickly to remind him where he'd be as he was being ushered out of the door with one leg in his trousers by the upperclassman only to receive a drowsy nod that left him unsatisfied – he was burning to talk about what had happened between them and was cursing the delay. He was then shoved into a seat at breakfast across from Harley Marroway who grunted a hello before Smith started piling food onto Albus's plate.

"Do you have your own broom?" asked Smith taking the seat beside him, Marroway looked up from his cereal to see his response.

"Yeah," said Albus, his voice croaky from being still half-asleep. "No," he corrected himself. "I mean, I do but it's at home. I wasn't expected to need it."

"Not to worry," cheered Smith, beaming, "you can use one of the school brooms and get your folks to post yours when you make the team."

"If you make the team," corrected Marroway on Smith's behalf. "We don't actually know he's any good, Smith."

"Trust me," said Albus grumpily. "You're about to be severely disappointed. In fact, we should probably just save ourselves the hassle and forget about it. Don't you already have someone lined up?"

"None of the seekers made the cut," said Smith glumly. "Well there's this one girl," his eyes rolled up as he remembered the previous tryouts. "Though I think she'd make a better chaser."

"Who is she?" asked Albus.

"Rubyfield," grumbled Marroway.

"Rutherford," corrected Smith. "She's something to look at but she's not much of a seeker."

Albus groaned: he was certain Stephanie would never forgive him should he take her place on the team. He wasn't a great quidditch player though, any time he had played with his family they had flown rings around him so, really, Stephanie had nothing to worry about.

"Eat up, Potter," said Marroway – somehow even the simple suggestion was intimidating from the giant seventh year. "You'll need energy. Tryouts aren't a walk in the park, you know."

"Yeah - it's mostly flying in the park," joked Smith sarcastically before ducking under an apple Marroway launched at his head then guffawing when it collided with a now irate Ravenclaw girl. Smith flashed her a winning smile and she calmed down, giggling with her friends. Albus was surprised to see that, whilst Smith had been gregarious, Marroway had blushed and appeared prepared to apologise, a manner which he had not anticipated from the grumpier of the two captains.

"Tick tock, Potter," said Smith like a cartoon. "If you don't eat something you'll regret it."

Albus gave in to their suggestions and wolfed down everything he could stomach and allowed himself be half-dragged to the quidditch pitch where he now stood wearing sports shorts that were too big for him under the team's filthy spare quidditch gear with a school broom tucked between his legs. The material of his clothes was thin and sleek for aerodynamic purposes and did nothing to keep out the freezing air of a morning in October.

"On my whistle, Potter," growled Marroway from the far end of the pitch. The other members of the team, Marroway, Smith, Derrick Douglas and a third year girl whose name Albus did not know were in attendance, each of them wielding a beater's bat (although Marroway and Smith were the team's beaters) as they prepared to test his manoeuvrability around bludgers. Marroway released a series of six bludgers (Albus was certain there were only usually two in a real game) then blew his whistle and each of the players kicked off from the ground.

As soon as Albus was in the air he had to duck under a bludger that had seen the bad side of Marroway's bat. It brushed past his head with such force he was certain it had taken some of his hair with it. His heart was in his throat as he dodged and dived under the relentless assault, wishing he had never agreed to take part until he started to receive intermittent cheers from the team whenever he evaded a particularly well aimed bludger. He was doing pretty spectacularly compared to how he usually fared at home and dodged all but one bludger which took out a couple of the bristles of the broom he was riding and he soon realised that he was actually enjoying himself such that, when Marroway blew the whistle, and the team began to touch down, he was somewhat disappointed.

"I knew you were a good flier," jeered Smith triumphantly. "Where have you been hiding all these years?"

"It never feels like that at home," said Albus, almost in shock of his admission. Why was he flying so well? He wished Scorpius were there to see him – his best friend would never take his word for it.

"Yeah, yeah," growled Derrick Douglas. "So what, anyone can fly, can we get this moving, I've got places to be."

"No you don't, Derrick," Marroway growled back. "Not if you want to stay on this team."

Douglas shut his mouth and crossed his arms to wait for further instruction. Marroway nodded to the girl on the team whose name turned out to be Jennifer (Jenny to her teammates) Wintertop who quickly mounted her broom and kicked off.

"Jenny is going to be your opposition," said Marroway. "Catch the snitch before her and you win, catch the snitch fast enough and you're on the team."

"He hasn't even done the sprint test!" raged Douglas in protest.

"If you don't shut your mouth, Derrick, I swear to Merlin…" roared Marroway. "Have you forgotten who the captain is?"

"Which one?" Douglas remarked before slamming his broom down and marching off toward the changing rooms. Marroway called out some profanities after him and commented to Smith that they'd have to have a word about him.

"What was that about a sprint?" asked Albus out of curiosity.

"It's nothing," said Smith. "We usually make the try outs do a timed lap but we've already seen how fast you fly so there's really no need."

"Oh," remarked Albus.

"Have you guys lost the snitch or something?" called Jenny from the air with a grin. Marroway nodded to Albus who shot into the air to level with Jenny. She winked at him then sped to one end of the field; not wanting to look clueless, Albus took off to the other and waited. Loose bludgers continued to zoom around aimlessly.

Upon the sound of the whistle, Marroway opened a trunk and released the tiny, winged golden ball, then he and Smith both kicked off, bats raised and immediately began firing bludgers solely at Albus as he darted around looking for the snitch. He kept one eye on Jenny in case she were to see the snitch before him. The constant threat of bludgers and task of scouring the field was exhilarating – more so than any other time he had played quidditch. He spent some time simply dodging bludgers but eventually, a glint of gold shot past his left eye and, without a moment's hesitation, he spun on the spot, dived under two bludgers which collided with such force that they exploded, and chased after the tiny speck. Jenny had just noticed him diving and was right behind him. The snitch was metres away from him, then mere feet and then it was inches from his outstretched fingers. Jenny was right beside him now, her wrist beside his as his fingers closed around the cold metal ball – its tiny wings folding as it was caught.

Smith and Marroway – to Albus's surprise – were both cheering hysterically. He slowed his broom to a halt high above the pitch and beamed like an idiot. Jenny rose up beside him and bashed her broom into his playfully before offering a high five. He slapped her hand without a moment's pause – he had had no idea playing quidditch could feel like this. In all the years he had tried to oppose his father and his family he had missed out on this fun. He regretted being a brat now more than ever and could not wait to tell Scorpius.

They touched down and Smith taught Albus how to charm the remaining bludgers down from the air at the end of practices – he failed to replicate the spell much to Smith's amusement but the co-captain 'let him off with it' as he, Marroway and Jenny finished securing the volatile balls.

"I had a feeling this would work out," said Marroway as they walked to the changing rooms, Smith and Jenny were racing ahead: Jenny was in front but Albus was certain Smith was letting her win. Marroway indicated the trunk which now contained all the balls and was rattling eerily: "Grab an end."

"What made you think I'd be any good, Marroway?" asked Albus, lifting the other end of the large container on Marroway's count, as he hadn't known himself that he would do so well.

"You can call me Harley," he replied. "We're all on first-name terms on this team."

"Uh, right," agreed Albus. "I'll try to remember that." He was surprised to see that Harley Marroway had a soft-spoken side – Albus had always seen him as a larger version of the brutish boys in his own year.

"I knew you'd be good," said Marroway, "because you're just like I was when I first came to Hogwarts: I always felt rubbish compared to my parents and my brothers who were all really good players," he readjusted his grip on the trunk. "My dad was in the Tornadoes, you know, and my oldest brother plays for them now. I didn't want to play at school because I was the worst player at home and I thought that just meant that I was a bad player. It wasn't until my first captain forced me to play that I realised that not everyone plays like my family and that, actually, I was pretty decent."

"The only issue is," said Albus trying not to show how out of breath he was from carrying the trunk as they hobbled along, "my family are on the other team and they are definitely better than me."

"Don't worry," said Marroway with a smile that Albus had never seen. "We'll soon fix that."

By the time Albus had showered, changed and returned to the castle, lunch was being served. He scanned the Slytherin table meticulously looking for Scorpius. It was on his second scan that he spotted the blond boy sitting beside Stephanie looking more nervous than Albus had ever seen him. He grinned then nodded a farewell to the rest of the quidditch team and bolted to Scorpius and throwing himself down onto the bench beside him.

"Hope you two didn't miss me too much," said Albus then, feeling confident after his successful trial, he allowed his shoulder to innocently brush against Scorpius's who jumped at the unexpected contact then laughed nervously (though his knee did manage to find Albus's beneath the table in an act which confirmed his hopes that Scorpius did not regret what had occurred between them).

"Miss you?" scoffed Stephanie. "I was sick of the sight of you. I hope you fell off your broom."

Albus stuck his tongue out at her before recounting his quidditch trial in all its glorious detail to a stunned Scorpius who had expected Stephanie's joke to be closer to the truth – though he did seem glad that Albus had not fallen from his broom.

"So did they mention me at all or are they in love with you now?" asked Stephanie when Albus had finished. He told her that they seemed to still want her on the team – leaving out the part where Smith had commented on her appearance. "Well, I guess chaser is better than nothing."

"Who knows," said Albus. "They still haven't actually announced the team, you could still have been faster than me."

"Doesn't sound likely," said Stephanie. "Oh well, may the best woman win."

Albus raised an eyebrow and Scorpius sniggered furtively before they began talking about Slughorn's party that night, Stephanie insisting that they take her with them so she could 'have a nosey about' and 'steal a dance from the future Slytherin Quidditch Captain'. Scorpius scoffed sourly at the thought and Albus couldn't help but grin – one kiss and Scorpius was already jealous – he must have done something right.

"Don't worry, Malfoy, dear," said Stephanie. "I promise I'll save a dance for you too."

"I am so lucky," he said with the driest voice he could muster, earning him a slap on the shoulder from the girl.

When they had finished winding each other up, Artemis Smith and Harley Marroway were standing at the end of the Slytherin table: Marroway looking serious as ever while Smith seemed imperturbable as ever.

"The new Slytherin Quidditch team will be announced this evening after dinner," grumbled Marroway once they had the table's attention.

"Does that mean we can finally get the quidditch cup going then?" heckled James Potter, in passing, ducking under the various food items that were thrown his way whilst laughing hysterically.

"Piss off, Potter," growled Marroway.

"Language, Mr Marroway," said Professor Longbottom who was listening to the exchange intently. "Five points from Slytherin."

"Damn it!" he groaned.

"Ten points," the Professor corrected himself.

Marroway bit his tongue and Smith took over before the co-captain could lose them any more house points. "All hopefuls should be in the common room by six o'clock and everyone else should be there to support them too. Especially you Rhona." He winked at a red haired girl who positively purred in his direction as another, girl halfway up the table burst into tears and stormed out of the great hall. Smith winced uncomfortably before announcing that was all they'd had to say. "Enjoy your lunch."

The table was practically buzzing with excitement as many of the students speculated at who would be filling which position. Derrick Douglas was whispering in Richard Carrow's ear then they were both glaring at Albus.

"Okay," said Albus through gritted teeth. "I think I've had enough of lunch, I'm going to go back to the common room."

"I'll go with you!" exclaimed Scorpius, standing in such haste that he sent his goblet soaring through the air landing, almost in slow motion, on Vanessa Marshall's lap, it's contents seeping through her pristine white blouse. "Not again!"

"MALFOY!" the girl screeched, drawing her wand as the boys scampered from the hall leaving Stephanie to deal with the aftermath.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Lily & Richard Vs The World**

Albus and Scorpius lingered around the common room that evening to await the announcement of the new quidditch team. Having never had any interest in quidditch before, Albus was surprised to find how nervous he was about being chosen. He was certain his trial had gone well but had it been good enough? Would he be disappointed if he didn't make it onto the team? Scorpius seemed just as nervous despite also having never shown much interest in the Hogwarts teams and Albus wondered whether he would come to games and support him if he were chosen.

"Vanessa Marshall," said Albus, nodding towards the common room entrance as the girl stomped into the room, Scorpius sank down in his armchair in the hope that she would not notice him. He was still embarrassed about having spilled his pumpkin juice over her for the second time and, judging by the ferocity with which the girl stormed off to the girls' dormitories, she was not quite over it either. "I think you're safe again."

"Thanks," said Scorpius glancing behind him to make sure that the girl was truly gone. Albus smiled as he watched relief befall his best friend's face until he looked peaceful once more. They had been alone since lunch but neither of them had brought up the events from the previous night. Albus was desperate to talk about it but couldn't bring himself to form the words. So-what if Scorpius was okay with kissing him once, it didn't necessarily mean that he was okay with doing it all the time. Not to mention Albus wasn't certain himself that he wanted anything to change between them so he let it go and decided to focus on quidditch and intermittently sliding his brother's map out of his pocket to check for Lily or Carrow who were still absent from its pages every time he checked. "Still no luck with that thing, then?"

"No," said Albus, tempted to scrap the antique and beg Roxanne for her unfinished but updated prototype. He couldn't get his head around how his sister would know how to cloak herself from an enchantment that more experienced wizards could not. "Whatever Lily is doing, she's doing it well." Scorpius elbowed him sharply, signalling him that they were no longer alone. Albus hastily – and without any due care – rolled the map into a ball and crammed it back into his pocket as Stephanie dropped into the armchair opposite theirs'. Her complexion was a sickly grey and her eyes looked sunken – Albus felt tired just looking at her. "Are you okay?" he asked as the girl closed her eyes as if she were fighting the urge to vomit.

"I'm fine," she assured him before attempting to conceal her exhaustion with a dishonest smile. "I'm just stressed from all this homework. Do either of you have a spare lunar chart? I've lost mine and we've that astronomy assignment due on Monday. I haven't even started."

"The essay is on the Migration of Saturn," said Scorpius. "What do you need a lunar chart for?"

"Is it?" she replied. "I could have sworn…" She trailed off as Harley Marroway, Artemis Smith and Jennifer Wintertop appeared and stood in the centre of the room. "Oh no," she said nervously, sitting up and, for the first time that day, there was a shred of life in her tired eyes. "I'm not ready to know."

"Oh calm down," said Albus, leaning back in his armchair nonchalantly. "It's just a stupid team." Despite his words, he too was terrified of the result. He had somehow grown to like the idea of being on the house team but didn't want to show it in case he were to be rejected. Scorpius seemed to see through him however as he gave Albus a supportive clap on the shoulder as Marroway cleared his throat to grab the room's attention.

"Attention please," said Marroway although the room had more or less fallen silent as each student was dying to know whether they had made the cut or not. "Er, thanks, I guess."

"Should I take over?" asked Smith comically as his best friend went red in the face and seemed to clam up as all the eyes in the room fell upon him. "Okie-dokie," said Smith rubbing his hands together excitably. "Now," he began, "as many of you know, there was a massive influx of new hopefuls for the team this year but there are only three places." Jenny gave him a discreet elbow in the ribs. "Ow!" he exclaimed drawing everyone's attention to the otherwise subtle gesture. "Okay, okay, five places because we made last year's members try out again," he dropped his voice to a still-audible whisper as he turned to his teammate, "I don't see why I have to say that, you and Derrick are still on the team."

"Just get on with it," whispered Jenny angrily. "And stop grandstanding they're all losing their patience."

"Fine," said Smith, clearing his throat. "Apparently my esteemed teammate has to untwist her knickers so I'll get this moving along." There were a couple of sniggers from the room as Jenny punched his arm before thundering away to stand in a corner with her arms crossed firmly over her chest where she ignored Smith's candid apologies. "All right," said Smith. "Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who tried out – if you didn't make it there's always next year and with any luck next year, you won't be as rubbish…"

"Arty," said Marroway through gritted teeth. "Just announce the team."

"Fine, fine," said Smith, pulling a sheet of parchment from within his robes and flattening it out on the back of a nearby sofa. "Okay, co-captains, beaters and eye candy of the team," said Smith as he began to read from his list of positions, Marroway groaned at being referred to as eye candy, "Harley Marroway and Artemis Smith. Would you look at that? I had no idea we'd make it this far, did you?" He turned to his red-faced co-captain.

"Arty," growled Marroway once again, his temper clearly ready to break.

"Swiftly moving on," said Smith, twirling back to face the eager students, some of which were now on the edge of their seats, Albus could see Scorpius shaking from the corner of his eye and it somehow calmed his nerves slightly. "Returning as our keeper this season – provided he stops pissing everyone off and stays on my good side," – Derrick Douglas gave the captain the finger – "the ever-charming Derrick Douglas."

"I'll break your finger if I ever see it again," said Marroway who then stifled a laugh as Douglas smirked and showed him the other finger before disappearing from the crowd to exchange un-pleasantries with Richard Carrow in the corner – an action that did not go unnoticed by Albus.

"Our seeker," said Smith, "was a hard choice seeing as just about every person in the room tried out for the position but we've deliberated and lost sleep over the decision – mostly because you all sucked so much, like really sucked…"

"Okay, that's enough, Arty," said Marroway, his voice booming as he stepped forward, pushing his friend out of the way. "Seeker – Albus Potter," there were a few shocked gasps around the room as nobody recalled seeing Albus at the tryouts. "Our two new chasers are Stephanie Rubyfern," – Smith whispered into his ear – "Oh sorry, that's Stephanie _Rutherford_ and Scorpius Malfoy."

"What?" gasped Albus, turning to look at his best friend who had gone rather green in the face at having been announced.

"And Jenny Wintertop will be returning as the third chaser," said Marroway quickly. "A full list of substitutes will be on the board. First practice is on Monday night." With that, he marched off out of the common room – Smith lingered, smirking a little before following after his best friend.

"When did you try out?" Albus asked Scorpius as soon as the room had returned to its usual noisy atmosphere. He stretched his mind back to the beginning of the month when he recalled seeing all the bruises on his best friend's chest then it all suddenly fell into place. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know," said Scorpius who still looked terrified. "I didn't think I'd ever get in and I knew you wouldn't be interested. I guess it all worked out in the end though, right, seeker?"

Albus wanted to be annoyed but he couldn't stop himself from grinning at being called "seeker". It had been his dad's position when he had played in the Gryffindor team. Neither Lily nor James were the seeker of the team. Albus didn't know whether to be happy or annoyed by yet another thing he had in common with his father.

"I am sorry, though," said Scorpius quietly, "for not telling you, I mean. I guess I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of you if I didn't make the team."

"Well you made the team, Malfoy," sneered Carrow as he and Douglas passed on their way out. "Daddy will be proud."

Scorpius looked completely trodden and said in a low voice, "I think I did try out for the wrong reason." He stood and walked sombrely towards the dormitories.

"Scorpius," called Albus.

"I'm just going to have an early night, I think," replied the blond boy. "I'll see you in the morning."

"He has major issues," said Stephanie who had been watching the whole exchange – Albus had forgotten she was even there. "So what's going on there?"

"Sorry?" said Albus. "Going on where?"

"With Scorpius, obviously," said Stephanie. "It doesn't take a genius to see there's something off with him. He's normally making dumb jokes that nobody gets and pining over that Granger-Weasley girl. Not a lot of that's been going on."

"You're right," said Albus with a heavy heart. Scorpius had seemed pretty low all day and he couldn't help but feel responsible. Perhaps his best friend had been less okay with Albus throwing himself at him than he had let on. "I should go talk to him."

"Maybe he needs the space," suggested Stephanie with a shrug of her shoulders. "It seems to me like that's something you guys don't really do, I mean, it's really no wonder that people think you're a couple."

"What?" asked Albus. "People think we're…"

"Gay?" offered Stephanie. "Well not _everyone_. It's just stupid rumours, Albus, I wouldn't get worked up about it nobody really thinks it. Everyone knows he's obsessed with your cousin."

"Don't say that!" groaned Albus. He thought he had gotten over his jealousy of Rose once and for all after the kiss but it had returned and seemed to be stronger than ever. He opened his mouth to continue his protestation but a searing hot pain burning against his thigh redirected all his thoughts. He thrust his hand into his trousers and withdrew a still-hot gold galleon. "James," he muttered. "I'll be back in a bit, Stephanie, I've got something I need to do."

"Hey!" she called after him. "Can I still have your lunar chart?"

"Yeah," he called back as he approached the entrance. "It's in my trunk."

"Albus," called Stephanie noticing a grubby stretch of parchment on the armchair, "you've dropped your…"

But Albus was in such a hurry that he did not hear what the girl had to say. As he left the common room he lit the tip of his wand to counter the dull-lighting of the dungeon and held the coin close to his face. The writing on its edge spelt out the words: greenhouse four. Why was James in the greenhouses? He debated whether or not to go back for Scorpius but Stephanie's words ran clear in his head, perhaps he did need some space. He extinguished his wand and cautiously made his way out to the grounds.

It was dark and it was cold, not having grabbed a jacket, he chittered as he slowly edged the glass door open and slipped inside the greenhouse that was home to the first year herbology plants: he could name none of them. He crept further into the room before calling out to his brother who was still nowhere to be seen.

"Keep it down," returned James's voice. He must have been under the invisibility cloak. "Okay, don't panic."

Suddenly Albus was enveloped in a floaty material and standing too close to his brother for comfort. His first instinct was to shout and back away but, as instructed he kept quiet, feeling that his brother's hand over his mouth was just a step to far. He tried to tell him to let go but it came out in an undeterminable mumble. James raised a finger to his lips before removing his hand from Albus's mouth.

"I followed Lily," James whispered. "She's in the next greenhouse over and Carrow has just arrived. What have you been eating? You're breath smells like dog food." Albus elbowed James in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. James gently turned his brother around and ushered him slowly out of the greenhouse and over to the door of the adjacent one, reminding him, quietly, to watch the cloak as he walked. "They've left it open," James whispered in his ear. Albus's heart pounded with nerves as they slid through the gap, pretty certain that a good quarter of his leg had been exposed as they awkwardly tried to stay under the same cloak.

Lily and Richard Carrow sat on the floor of the greenhouse, both of them were bent over a large book that Albus couldn't see from his position. They seemed to be silently reading over the same page while Derrick Douglas paced around picking up plant pots and putting them down again. The Falconer twins were nowhere to be seen.

"Are you sure this is the right book, Richard?" said Lily, tucking her hair behind her ear as she flipped between pages, clearly not finding what she was looking for. "I don't see anything about reanimation."

"None of the books are even in English, Lily," replied Carrow, his voice was soft, almost tender, unlike Albus had ever heard before. "I don't know why this is so important to you anyway. Thinking of starting an army of undead? Because, if the incident with Peeves is anything to go by, you should reconsider."

"Oh very funny," spat Lily, looking up from the pages in front of her. "That was a simple miscalculation." Her angry features softened for a brief moment as Carrow reached out and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand, his face full of longing.

Albus felt James's grip on his shoulder tighten as they watched the older boy flirt shamelessly with their little sister. Albus's knuckles were white as he pulled out his wand. James took a hold of his wrist and forced it back down to his side, shaking his head when Albus looked round in protest. He was fuming but he held in his anger as they continued to watch.

"Your brother made the Quidditch team," said Carrow casually as he examined his nails for dirt but Lily did not seem impressed.

"James has been on the team for years," she pointed out as she skimmed the words before her.

"No, your other brother," said Carrow with a smirk as Lily looked up with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not joking."

"I don't care," said Lily, shaking her head. "If I wanted to talk about sports I'd be out here with Rose. Stop trying to make conversation and help me figure this out before somebody realises we're out here."

Carrow looked bemused and Douglas was snickering in the corner. Albus craned his neck once Carrow had scooted over and he had to fight the urge to throw up. Between the ancient volume and the two students lay an eviscerated magpie and a rusty knife.

"Okay," said Lily, her wand drawn. "Richard, you can help me chant, Derrick, pass me the spindlewood petals." She specified which of the plants was spindlewood when Douglas didn't know then accepted them from the brute, meanwhile, Carrow had taken out his own wand and had begun chanting words from the book. Albus looked at James and saw his own worry reflected in his older brother's handsome face. Lily placed the petals in a small bowl and lit them on fire with the tip of her wand, she then began to chant alongside Carrow, her voice more commanding and forceful. Smoke from the burning petals began to rise then coiled around the dead bird like a snake constricting its prey. Carrow picked up the knife and dragged the blade across the palm of his hand. He held the wound over the smouldering petals and allowed his blood to drip into the concoction. Lily then took the knife in her own hand, she touched the blade to her palm then –

The invisibility cloak was on the floor, the knife had flown out of Lily's hand with such force that it shattered one of the ceiling panels and, for all Albus knew, was now littering the forest floor half a mile away somewhere. James stood with his wand drawn, having just disarmed his sister. The three faces before them looked shocked by the Potter brothers' apparent materialisation. While Lily and Carrow scrambled to their feet, Douglas had drawn his wand and was halfway through a hex when Albus disarmed him with expelliarmus.

"This has gone far enough," said James. His voice was unlike anything Albus had ever heard from his brother's mouth. "Lily," he demanded, "what in the name of Merlin are you playing at?"

"I'm learning a spell," said the girl stubbornly folding her arms, her red hair billowing in the draft created by the new hole in the ceiling. Albus felt anger boil inside him at his sister's detachment. "We're at school to learn are we not?"

"Not dark magic, Lily!" shouted James, his wand hand was shaking.

"How do you know it's dark?" she demanded calmly. "You have no idea what I'm even doing."

"I think any ritual that involves you carving bits off your body is pretty dark, Lily," spat James. Albus's mouth had gone dry as he realised the severity of the situation. It was common knowledge that one of the fundamental laws of dark rituals was that they all involved some sort of deformation of the body – any photo of Lord Voldemort could prove that. How could Lily think that what she was doing was okay?

"Don't you think you're exaggerating just a tiny bit, Potter," said Carrow indignantly, his wand was in his hand but he didn't have it raised, he tapped it against his leg a couple of times and Albus contemplated disarming him just to be on the safe side but didn't want to upset the delicate situation any further by using any more offensive magic. However, Carrow and Lily's calm demeanour had the hairs on the back of his neck standing. Something did not feel right.

"Nobody asked your opinion scumbag," replied James, turning his wand on Carrow. "I think we'll have the rest of this conversation in McGonagall's office, if you don't mind. You can come on your own or I can drag you all there. It's your decision."

"James," said Albus, his gut telling him there was something wrong here, that they were all too calm, that what Lily and Carrow's group were dabbling in was much deeper than what the two of them were capable of dealing with.

"Not now, Albus," said James. "Keep your wand on ugly at the back, there."

"Watch it, Potter," said Douglas. "Ugly here shares a room with your brother. Wouldn't want something tragic happening during the night."

Albus's blood went cold in his veins at the thought of being vulnerable and the look in Carrow's eye confirmed that they would stoop to that level if pushed. Lily's eyes were cold and full of rage as if her rights were somehow being infringed, as if it were acceptable for her to be attempting dark magic without any repercussions. He kept his wand trained on Douglas but, out of the corner of his eye he saw the slightest change in his sister's expression: the tiniest twitch at the corner of her lip, a smile which never made it to full fruition.

"James," said Albus, feeling the hard tip of a wand pressing against his skull. "James, put your wand down."

James looked round and, sure enough, Ronnie and Reggie Falconer had joined the encounter, each of them had their wand pointed at the head of a Potter brother. When Albus turned back, Carrow had his wand pointed at James as did Lily and Douglas once they had recovered their wands.

"Shit," groaned James, realising he had been outplayed lowered his wand like Albus. "Lily, think about what you're getting involved in. What would mum and dad say? Do you think they would be okay with you doing this."

"This is what I hate about you," said Lily, her temper snapping. "And Albus. And Mum. And Dad. Don't you see? There's no Dark Magic. Magic is just magic, it's what we use it for that matters. I'm not hurting anyone and I never will…"

"What about William?" interjected Albus hoping to make the girl see the contradiction between her words and actions. "Your memory charm didn't do him any good, now, did it? And then Peeves, we heard you admit to being behind that terrible spell too. He nearly killed me and Scorpius and a bunch of students ended up in the hospital wing! What were the good intentions behind all that?" The wand against his scalp pressed harder into his skin.

"What happened to William was an accident," confessed Lily. "And I didn't mean to hurt Peeves, honest, he was pestering us first and I hexed him to make him stop but the spell only works on ghosts not poltergeists. I didn't know it would do that to him, I swear." She looked in James's eyes, hers were wet with forthcoming tears. "James," she pleaded. "Look at me." Her voice shook with every syllable. "You know I would never hurt anyone," she then turned to Albus. "Even you must know that, as thick-headed as you are."

"Lily," said Carrow, lowering his wand and putting his arm around the girl's shoulder as she began to cry. "You don't need to explain yourself to them," he cooed. "We believe in you," he put his hand under her chin and tilted her head up to look at him. "You know I'm here for you, I trust your vision, we all do, you don't need them."

" _Petrificus Totalus,"_ said a voice from the doorway followed by another which cried, _"Stupefy."_

Ronnie Falconer's limbs snapped together and he fell forward, landing face down at Albus's feet while Reggie Falconer was propelled forward, smacked his head off one of the tables and was unconscious. Douglas fired a hex at James who deflected it with ease, the jet of purple light bounced off his shield charm, ricocheted off the ceiling and struck Douglas square in the chest, turning his legs to jelly.

"Albus, are you okay?" Scorpius had appeared beside him whilst Stephanie had rushed to James's side with her wand on Carrow who was clearly livid. Lily's eyes were wide with shock then narrow with anger.

"How did you know where we were?" asked Albus, dumbfounded as he threw his arms around his best friend's neck.

"The map fell out your pocket when you left, dummy," said Scorpius. "If it weren't for Stephanie…I don't want to think about what was going on before we showed up. I'm sure it's not good."

"If you two are done making out back there, we've got a situation on our hands here," said Stephanie sarcastically but the comment still turned Albus's cheeks red as he was pretty certain he would have liked to make out with Scorpius right then. However, Stephanie was right, Carrow and Lily both had their wands pointed at James and Stephanie in a stalemate.

"Lily," said Albus. He did not raise his wand as Scorpius had but, instead tried to appeal to his sister's softer nature. "Forget all of this, it's stupid to fight with family – trust me, I know. We can get you the help you need and make all of this go away," Lily's wand hand fell slightly as she considered Albus's words. "Whatever Carrow has done to make you do this…"

"You think this is my doing?" said Carrow, turning his wand on Albus. "She came to me, Potter, because she knew that, unlike you or your asshole brother, I wouldn't get in her way or try to change her mind. She has her own goals, I'm just helping her get there."

"And what are these goals, Carrow?" spat Albus, starting to lose his temper.

"To stop being scared all the time," snapped Lily. "I'm fed up being terrified. I can't just go on waiting for the day that I'm trapped – I have to be prepared and this," – she indicated the book and still-smoking bowl of ash – "is the only way. I have to get stronger."

"Dark magic is wrong Lily," said Scorpius, speaking openly for the first time. "It almost destroyed my family. It always seems innocent enough, at first, it's always just 'misunderstood' or 'misrepresented' but it's just bad. If you want to get stronger, you'll get stronger in time. If you start taking short cuts are you really getting stronger or are you just finding something bigger and scarier to hide behind? I know how you feel – some of the things I've seen – I'm terrified too but we don't have to resort to this."

"No?" the girl squeaked through her tears as Scorpius's words sank in.

"No, Lily," said Scorpius. James mad eye contact with Albus, silently communicating how impressed he was. "Now, will you put your wand down and come with us or are you going to keep running from your fears?"

"Lily?" asked Carrow, looking unsure. "What do we do?"

"It's okay, Richard," she replied. "They're right. I'm sorry I got you into this mess." She took his wrist in her hand and lowered his wand before pulling him into a hug – she had to stand on her tip-toes to get her arms around his neck.

"Let's get you back to the castle," said James, lowering his wand and nodding at Stephanie to signal that she should do the same. "Go straight to McGonagall's office. Albus and Scorpius will go with you. Me and…" He paused, unsure of the girl's name.

"Stephanie," the girl said cheerily.

"Stephanie and me," continued James. "Stephanie and I? We'll wait here with these knucklebrains, ask McGonagall to send someone down to help out, will you? Maybe suggest getting a few beds ready in the hospital wing?"

"Right," agreed Albus. Lily and Carrow left the greenhouse and began the walk back up to the castle. Albus and Scorpius stayed behind a few moments outside the greenhouse. "That was some speech," said Albus. "How did you know what to say?"

Scorpius held a finger up to say 'wait a second', bent over and threw up all over pumpkin patch outside the first greenhouse on the plot. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and remained bent over with his hands on his knees while he caught his breath.

"Let's never do that again," he panted. Once his stomach had settled, Scorpius nodded and agreed to follow Lily and Carrow to McGonagall's office. They stayed far behind and watched. Albus gritted his teeth as Carrow took his sister's hand. "I know you want to jinx him right now," said Scorpius. "But I feel bad for him." Albus looked at his best friend with a questioning eye. "I mean, I get where he's coming from. His parents were like mine, well, my dad anyway. It's hard walking around knowing what everyone thinks of you – even if they don't say it. When someone just accepts you for who you are it's easy to do anything they ask you to."

"Right," said Albus without really understanding.

"It's like me and you," Scorpius clarified for him.

"So you're Carrow," said Albus, finally seeing the connection, "and I'm Lily?"

"Yeah," agreed Scorpius. "Except without all the dark rituals."

"But are we _like_ Carrow and Lily?" asked Albus as he watched the pair in the distance walking hand-in-hand and wanting to know where things stood in their ever changing relationship.

"No," said Scorpius. "I don't think we are." He stopped and Albus stopped with him. Scorpius took Albus's hands in his own. His palms were sweaty and he was trembling slightly. "I want us just to be Scorpius and Albus."

"I think I can live with that," said Albus grinning, Scorpius smiled dopily back at him then they walked the rest of the way up to the castle holding hands only letting go once they were within the giant walls. Lily and Carrow had waited for them, Carrow was complaining about how long they had taken and Albus had to bite his tongue.

The four of them walked to the headmistress's office together. Albus filled with dread as he saw the statue with whom they had argued the last time they were there. Tonight, he told himself, he would not tolerate any crap from the enchanted stone beast. At the first sign of conflict, he had vowed to obliterate its stupid face or transfigure it into a dormouse…not that he was confident of actually being able to do either of those things.

"Password?" asked the statue, politely. Evidently it had taken McGonagall's threat of redecorating seriously to its stone heart. It opened its eyes, recognised Albus who was scowling angrily and Scorpius who was waving sheepishly. It visibly heaved a dramatic sigh before disappearing upward then returning and giving them passage to the staircase. "The headmistress is expecting you."

Lily and Carrow started up the winding staircase first, then Scorpius followed by Albus. As Albus passed, the statue stuck out its leg in an attempt to trip him. He would have fallen flat on his face had Scorpius not caught him around the waist.

"That's it!" her turned, raised his wand to hex the statue, but Scorpius grabbed his wrist.

"We can fight the statue later," said Scorpius, his voice cracking. "Or not. I'd rather not. But we shouldn't be fighting it now. Priorities and all that…"

Albus aimed a rude gesture at the statue and returned to climbing the staircase. When they arrived at McGonagall's office, the old woman, clad in a long lilac nightdress with her white hair tied tightly behind her head greeted them with what only just passed for a smile. Albus wasn't sure where to begin but McGonagall held up her hand to silence him once he had begun to speak.

"You don't need to explain, Mr. Potter," she said. "I received a Patronus from your brother telling me what I need to know. Thank you for escorting Miss Potter and Mr. Carrow. You may go."

"But," began Albus, wanting to tell her how he had every right to know what was being said because it was his sister but McGonagall dismissed them once more and Scoprius dragged him from the room by his elbow.

"I know you want to know," said Scorpius once they had returned to the dungeon, "but I'm sure James will fill you in later." There was music playing from somewhere along the dark corridor and the distinct booming laughter of their head of house sounded throughout.

"Slughorn's party!" said Albus suddenly remembering their invitation. "I completely forgot about it."

"You were busy getting into a stand-off," said Scorpius. "It's an easy thing to forget in that situation, if you ask me."

Albus grinned at his best friend before bowing, offering his arm and saying, "Shall we, then?" Scorpius curtsied comically before taking Albus's arm. They joked pleasantries and 'posh-laughed' their way to the open door. The room had been decorated for Halloween and a long table filled with exotic foods had been erected in the middle of the room and, at its centre, sat the large walrus of a man, Horace Slughorn. He was surrounded by his favourite students (minus James and Lily Potter of course) and was in the middle of recounting a sordid tale from his youth when he looked up and saw them standing there.

"Potter!" exclaimed Slughorn. "HO! And Malfoy, well don't just stand there, come in, come in. There's a pair of seats by Smith – if you do say anything to him, do try and convince him to get a haircut."

They grabbed the seats at the very end of the table by Artemis Smith, there was a Hufflepuff girl whom Albus did not recognise who had draped herself around him like a gilded frame on a prized-portrait. He looked uncomfortable, to say the least. Vanessa Marshall, who was also in attendance, started gathering napkins in her lap as if their presence guaranteed that something was about to be spilled upon her.

"Albus! Scorpius!" said Smith, desperately trying to untangle himself from the girl who giggled as if he were being playful. "No James? He usually comes to these things."

"You and James are friends?" asked Albus, surprised that he didn't already know. "Er, no, he and Lily are doing something," he tried to think of an excuse but his attempts fell short, "doing something else." He helped himself to chocolate cake.

"How vague and inconvenient," said Smith with a wink. "Well I'm glad you two made it, I was about to give in and head back to the common room but I thought I'd hang about in case James turned up."

"How do you two know each other?" asked Scorpius, curiously.

"We're in the same year," responded Smith with a laugh that made Scorpius feel very stupid and very small. "We went to quidditch camp together last summer and ended up playing on the same team. He's a really good chaser and it turned out we support the same team so I guess we just kept in touch after that."

"So what do we do in here?" asked Albus, devouring his cake and contemplating having more.

"You're doing it," said Smith. "Usually we just eat decent food then spend the rest of the night listening to Sluggy namedrop. It actually kind of sucks but the food's all right and it's worthwhile having the old coot on your side. As messed up as it is having favourites, his actually normally go places."

"Really?" said Albus, not convinced. "Like who?"

"Like your dad," laughed Smith. "And the minister for magic was one of his favourites."

"Ha!" laughed Albus. "My Aunt Hermione hates him. My dad never really says anything good about him either."

Their stay at Slughorn's party was a painful one. As Smith had predicted, they soon became very bored but found no way of leaving mid-story without offending the old professor. He had talked well into the early hours of the morning and insisted that each of them went straight to their common rooms and got some sleep – they'd have plenty more opportunities to hear Slughorn's stories another day.

Albus followed Scorpius to the dormitories on tired legs. When they arrived, the room was empty: the Falconers were presumably in the hospital wing; Douglas had no doubt joined them when James and Stephanie were "unable" to counter-jinx the presumably badly cast misdirection hex and Carrow was probably still in McGonagall's office (if he and Lily hadn't been expelled of course).

"Is it just us?" asked Scorpius in disbelief. "It's too quiet. Creepy quiet."

"Yeah," agreed Albus. "It does feel weird not to have the constant threat of being cursed in my sleep lingering around in my head. I hate it…" His tone was sarcastic but light-hearted and Scorpius laughed but Albus was sure he was just being polite.

They dressed for bed, Albus commenting on how Scorpius's bruises had gotten a lot better. Scorpius proceeded to describe in detail how he had received each one in the "bludger trial" at the quidditch try outs. He then apologised again for not telling him the truth the first time and then he finally put his pyjama top on. At this point Albus was overcome with lust and could not think straight. As soon as his friend's chest had been covered he was desperate to expose it again.

"Scorpius," said Albus. "I've been wanting to talk about last night."

"Me too," agreed Scorpius.

"Good," said Albus. He sat down so that he was opposite Scorpius – each of them on his respective bed. "When I kissed you," he began…

"You did it because I was upset," finished Scorpius. "You know how I feel about you and you wanted to make me feel better. I know." He smiled but it was a sad smile, as if he had received the greatest gift he could think of then lost it the next day.

"You're such an idiot!" laughed Albus. "I didn't kiss you to make you feel better – though I'd like to hear more about these feelings for me."

"What?" Scorpius was blushing profusely. "You mean, after all this time you didn't know? Like you really didn't notice?"

"How was I to notice when all you ever did was talk about Rose?" proclaimed Albus. "And, as for not noticing, I've been all over you for forever and you still think that I'm not in…that I don't…you know."

"Are you joking?" asked Scorpius, he was on the edge of his bed and looked like he were about to wet himself. "Tell me you're not joking."

"I kissed you because I wanted to," said Albus. "I kissed you because I want to always kiss you!"

"Even after I vomited?" asked Scorpius thoughtfully before changing his mind. "Forget I said that, please."

"Forgotten," said Albus with a wave of his hand. They sat in silence for a moment, each of them regarding the other with scrutiny as if they were convinced the other was about to change his mind or reveal his bluff. When it didn't happen, Scorpius stood up and sat down beside Albus. Still they said nothing. Their legs touching, they caught each other's eye for a moment before turning away in embarrassment. Albus's heart was beating so fast he thought he was about to have a heart attack. The rate grew faster when Scorpius wound a trembling arm around Albus's waist. "Kiss me," he uttered before his nerves could swallow the sound.

Scorpius brought their lips together and they fell backwards onto the bed where they lay side-by-side, pressing their bodies close together as they kissed. Albus had never felt another feeling like it. Albus gasped when Scorpius pulled away and sat up.

"What's wrong?" he asked as the blond boy turned to him with a look of panic.

"What's wrong with us?" asked Scorpius. "What will people say when they find out? Is there even anything to find out? Are you my boyfriend now? What about our parents? Are we even allowed to be in the same dormitory if we're" – Albus hushed him with a kiss.

"I don't have all the answers," said Albus. "In fact I don't think I have any of the answers. But this," – he laced his fingers into Scorpius's – "it feels right. Does it feel right for you too?"

Scorpius paused for a minute to think about it then placed Albus's hand over his own heart which was beating just as fast -if not faster- than Albus's. "It feels right," said Scorpius, nodding. "I've always known, Albus." They fell back together onto the bed, their hands still joined. "I mean, I think I've always had these feelings for you but, I didn't know what to do with them."

"I know what you mean," said Albus remembering all the times he had almost pounced on his best friend over the last few weeks. "I want to be your boyfriend," he decided. "If you want me to be."

"Okay," said Scorpius. "Wow. Boyfriend. Boy. Friend. Albus is my boyfriend. It's weird, isn't it?"

"The weirdest," agreed Albus. "But I think I'm okay with that."

"Me too," said Scorpius with a sigh. "Do you think," he began, sending Albus's heart racing again and his pulse throbbing. "I mean, would it be okay," he stumbled over the words, "since it's just us tonight," he took a breath, "can I sleep in your bed tonight? With you. Obviously."

In response, Albus grinned, stood up and ripped back the sheets and gestured for Scorpius to get in, which he wasted no time in doing. Albus crawled in beside his _boyfriend_. They lay face-to-face, Scorpius's breath tickling his nose and they became a warm mass of tangled limbs as they fell asleep. When Albus awoke during the night, that night, to find Scorpius's body still pressed against his back he knew that this year was going to be his best year at Hogwarts.


	6. Chapter 6

Warning. Slightly mature content.

 **Chapter 6: Potter Vs Potter**

"Am I reading this right?" asked Scorpius as he paced up and down the dormitory. "Your dad is coming here." He re-read the letter for the millionth time as Albus lounged on his bed flicking through the daily prophet. "He knows doesn't he?" questioned Scorpius, his pacing coming to a halt to meet eyes with Albus who was too tired to be concerned about his best friend's paranoia. "He knows about us. I know it."

"Scorpius," groaned Albus. "He doesn't know anything," he continued then, in a vain attempt to stimulate a conversation about the direction of their progressing relationship, he added, "what is there to know? Nothing's changed between us, has it?" Scorpius seemed to freeze and Albus savoured the deliciousness of the boy's confusion.

"Did you forget?" asked Scorpius. "You know," he lowered his voice to a whisper that Albus barely heard, "all the kissing?"

"Maybe I need reminding," said Albus dropping the newspaper, leaning back on his elbows and feeling very smooth and James-like despite his entire nervous system pulsing with anxiety. 'All the kissing', in Albus's opinion, was overstatement: they had kissed twice since their first kiss which, in the space of a month, was hardly indicative of the romance he had been gasping to pursue. Scorpius's face lit up like a traffic light, he heaved a sigh, protested Albus's charm then folded his arms across his chest. It was evidently going to take more convincing. Albus got to his feet and strode over to his best friend - boyfriend? "If you don't want to do it again, it's fine. I'm not bothered whether you want to kiss me or…"

He was silenced as Scorpius grabbed him by the back of the head and pulled their faces together in a clumsy, open-mouthed kiss. When they broke apart, they were both very light headed and quite red in the face. There were summersaults happening somewhere in Albus's gut and his skin was ablaze everywhere he had been touched by Scorpius. He hoped he didn't look as stupid as he felt.

"There," said Scorpius. "Happy? I still want to kiss you. Now can we get back to the part where your dad is coming to Hogwarts? You have to admit, the timing is pretty strange. We start dating, then your dad suddenly takes up a teaching post at our school."

"Firstly," began Albus. "We're definitely dating?" Scorpius seemed amused but looked as though Albus had just asked him the dumbest question in the world. "Okay, I just wanted to be sure…Secondly," he moved on, after Scorpius's affirmative nod, "he's not 'taking up a position', he's just helping Professor Forrest for a few weeks," - Scorpius still didn't seem convinced. "And in any case, if he is spying on any of us, it's Lily. She's un-suspended on Monday."

"Oh, I never thought of that" said Scorpius dropping onto Albus's bed and letting out a deep breath that visibly relaxed his entire body and sent shivers to Albus's extremities – all Scorpius had to do was breath now and it turned him on – he cursed his anatomy. "Are you okay, Albus?"

"I'm fine," he said quickly trying to force himself to think of anything other than relieving Scorpius of his shirt and sat down on Scorpius's bed so they were facing each other across the gap between their beds. "I still don't get what Lily was thinking. Mum and Dad haven't told me or James anything since she's been home. All we know is that she was doing some pretty dodgy magic - James says it was Necromancy, you know: that thing with the dead bird."

"Is it not 'nekomancy'?" asked Scorpius. "And that spell on Peeves was definitely not in the curriculum."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's 'necro'," replied Albus folding his arms. "I looked it up."

"In a book?" said Scorpius, smirking. "When have you ever opened a book, much less read one, without me?" He gasped dramatically. "You don't need me anymore!" he teased. Pretending to sob he then added, "I'll just pack up my things and go home."

"Shove off, you idiot," laughed Albus, leaning up to push Scorpius's shoulder. He returned to the bed and sat cross-legged, clasping his hands nervously. "You know, with Lily coming back to school this week, Carrow and the rest of them will be back too." He looked around at the empty-except-for-them dormitory and was suddenly wishing he had spent more time being physical with Scorpius while they had been alone. He swallowed nervously. "We won't have this place to ourselves for much longer." Scorpius caught his eye, then blushed and looked toward the door. "You know," he started, then paused to try to find a diplomatic way to bring up the subject he was desperate to discuss. "When we kiss…" he tried again but it wasn't right. Scropius knew what he was about to say, Albus was certain, due to the deepening red of his face. "Do you want to keep waiting to…you know…do stuff?"

"What stuff?" asked Scorpius. He then winced as if regretting his word choice. "I mean, I know what you mean. At least, I think I'm thinking the same thing as you…" he stumbled around the words. "I'm saying it all wrong."

"But you want to do stuff," asked Albus suddenly self-conscious that perhaps Scorpius wasn't interested in Albus sexually; the way Albus was interested in him. He could feel sweat all over his body as he approached the topic, his mother's voice in his ear told him _if you can't even talk about sex you best not think about it yet._ "Stuff with me, I mean." He didn't have to wait long for a response.

"I do," said Scorpius almost immediately. "I always want to," he winced again. "I mean, I don't _always_ want to – I'm definitely not obsessed – but I do want to. I just don't want to rush you."

"I don't want to rush you either," admitted Albus. "And," he bit his lip slightly, "you know I've never done anything before."

"Not even...?" gasped Scorpius making a crude, cartoonish pumping motion with his fist above his own groin, a gesture so un-Scorpius that made Albus's ears burn and heart race, "like, with yourself?"

"Of course I've done that!" exclaimed Albus, his hands shooting up to his temples in frustration. "I just meant, I haven't done anything with anyone else."

"Oh," said Scorpius, clearly embarrassed – again. "Me neither," he replied, admitting what they both already knew. "Honestly, I'm kind of terrified."

Albus laughed and then explained to a crestfallen Scorpius that he wasn't laughing _at_ him; that he was just a bit nervous too. They sat facing each other in the quiet room but didn't make eye contact. Albus glanced around the room before finally taking the plunge. "Okay," he said, "I have an idea." Scorpius's head snapped up and the awkwardness was suddenly gone as quickly as it had appeared – the joys of being involved with your best friend, thought Albus. "The others don't come back till Sunday," said Albus, Scorpius nodding in agreement. "Today is Thursday."

"Right," answered Scorpius, tilting his head slightly like a confused dog.

"That means we have three more nights alone," explained Albus as Scorpius began to get the idea. "We'll start of small," he suggested. "Just push the boundaries a little then, if we want to, we can do something a bit more…you know… _intimate_ the next night."

"I think I can cope with that," agreed Scorpius, though he had gone rather pale. "We should come up with a code word in case either of us wants to stop." He blinked seriously in Albus's direction and Albus had to fight the urge to laugh again.

"How about 'stop'?" he grinned and Scorpius screwed his eyes shut and laughed.

"Yep," Scorpius agreed. "That'll do it…so, er, are we starting this tonight then?"

Albus hadn't been expecting the question and his heart thumped against his sternum and his blood began the familiar descent to his lower half as the direct question sent his imagination into overdrive. He nodded for his mouth was too dry to for any words. Scorpius seemed to understand and suggested that they worry about it later and just get ready for quidditch practice which was due to begin half an hour after dinner (which they were currently skipping). They each pulled their freshly cleaned uniforms from their trunks – Albus had been surprised that the stains from their last practice had come out and Scorpius commented that he wouldn't be surprised if the school house-elves just made new ones after every match. It was ridiculous, of course, but at Hogwarts, anything could happen. As Scorpius slid his tie over his head and began to unbutton his shirt, Albus felt a familiar stirring in his stomach as he had an idea.

"Scorpius," he asked, the blond boy stopping at the third button down to listen to his boyfriend. "I know we just agreed to not think about…you know…just now but we could look…" He wasn't going to be able to finish the sentence but Scorpius seemed to have had the same idea as he nervously continued to unbutton his shirt but, instead of facing away as was the custom of undressing in a communal space, he remained facing Albus until he had pulled the cool, white polyester school shirt from his shoulders and dropped it to the floor. He appeared to struggle not to cover his chest with his arms but stood with them rather awkwardly rigid by his sides. They had seen each other shirtless before, of course, but it somehow felt different being invited to look. "Should I…" he began but Scorpius was already nodding frantically, a blush creeping onto his face from being scrutinised. Albus deftly undid his tie and gracelessly pulled his own shirt over his head and threw it into the corner beside his bed. It was a simple act and a nice view but it wasn't enough. Albus took off his belt then loosened his trousers; Scorpius followed suit and then they stood in their underwear. The awkwardness didn't last long as desire took over them. They got closer, Scorpius ran his hands over Albus's hips, up his slim torso, over his chest and down his arms causing the hairs to stand on end. They pressed their almost-naked bodies together as they kissed: their hands wandering over skin they had seen but never touched before and passion flowed between their bodies as they each struggled to crush every inch of themselves onto the other with such force that, more than once, they almost lost their footing.

A loud crack filled the room. The sudden intrusion of sound sent their hearts racing (in the opposite direction than before) and the boys instinctively leapt apart and naively attempted to conceal their exposed bodies. A puff of smoke cleared and Winkie the house elf stood before them. She grimaced at the pathetic look of them, grumbled something derogatory about wizards, placed a neatly folded square of parchment into Albus's hand then vanished without another word. Once he had regained his breath from the adrenaline rush, he unfolded the note with shaky fingers:

" _I see your 'conversation' with Scorpius went well. Remember that enchanted map I have again? It looked like…well, I'll not say it in writing. Do I need to give you 'the talk'? Did Mum and Dad already give you 'the talk'? I suggest asking Uncle Charlie. He gives a good 'talk'. Consider the house-elf (and timing) payback for last time._

 _Your Idol and Favourite Brother,_

 _James_

 _PS. Give me a heads-up when you work out who's 'the girl' so I know who to bet on when you start telling people you're having it off with each other. Later Albro."_

Any arousal Albus had been feeling was obliterated when he realised his brother had somehow worked out what was transpiring between them from the map. He scrunched up the parchment angrily in his fist and flung his fuming body into his quidditch uniform, vowing that James would pay for this. Scorpius followed Albus's lead apprehensively.

"Do I want to know what that said?" asked Scorpius when they were both fully dressed for practice and Albus had unfolded the noted so that he could rip it into tiny pieces. "Because, I'm hoping the note killed the mood and not me…" Albus flung himself at Scorpius once more, engulfing his tall, gangling frame with his arms and resting his head briefly on the blond boy's shoulder before pulling away.

"If you see James before I do," said Albus. "Feel free to give him a head start because I am going to kill him." Scorpius raised an eyebrow but didn't push the question any further and instead just followed Albus from the dormitory, through the castle and out to the quidditch pitch where they collected their brooms and Albus filled Scorpius in on what James knew while they waited for the rest of their team.

"You two are eager tonight!" said Artemis appearing out of nowhere to comment on their earliness, with Marroway hulking along behind him. The girls were a few paces further back, gossiping about Merlin-knows-what and finally, fourth year's Connor Bates trailed along at the back. A loud gasping laugh escaped from Albus at Artemis's words, the irony igniting his insides with a burning, guttural laughter. The co-captain exchanged a look with his partner who only shrugged as Scorpius realised why Albus was laughing and joined in. They were certainly eager to do _something_. Where most people would want to know what was going on, Artemis simply beamed from ear to ear and revelled in his self-professed comedic genius while Marroway took no further notice and began setting up the pitch.

Once they had had a brief catch-up, Marroway took centre stage and addressed the team. "Our first match of the year is coming up," he coughed to clear his throat. "We are playing Hufflepuff," he rolled his eyes as Artemis started jeering at the mention of the other team. "Right, okay Arty, we get it. Shut up. The first match is always the hardest because we don't know how the new line up plays and you can bet the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams will be taking notes on us at the match so we're going to hold back on as much technique as we can."

"We're also at a disadvantage," interrupted Artemis, "because Derrick got himself suspended and he's always kind of been a dick so we made the executive decision to boot his arse of the team. Albus looked around at the rest of the team as Artemis continued to list all of Derrick Douglas's personal flaws: Scorpius and Stephanie were drinking in every word, Jenny simply looked itching to be in the air, Connor was red in the face (Artemis had called him an 'untrained sub') and Marroway was massaging his temples as he often did when Artemis decided to take on Captain speeches.

"Thanks, Arty," said Marroway, opening his mouth to speak again but as soon as the first syllable left his tongue –

"No problem Harley," grinned Artemis.

Marroway appeared to be counting in his head and Albus realised he must care about Artemis a lot to put up with so many things that clearly annoyed him, for Marroway had the shortest temper in the whole of Hogwarts Castle yet he never truly lost it with Artemis. Albus had also seen the softer side of Marroway on the day of his try out and he was beginning to wonder if perhaps his feelings towards the other captain were more than friendly. "IN THE AIR POTTER!" yelled Marroway, his face contorted like an angry bull. Albus had been so lost in his thoughts that he had stopped paying attention and the rest of the team were already doing laps around the pitch - he decided then and there that he was not going to confront Marroway with his hypothesis.

Quidditch practice was exhausting. They stayed on the pitch for most of the evening, focusing on agility and spending a lot of time making shots at their new keeper to make sure that he would be ready when the time came to face off against the Hufflepuff team. They had also received strict orders that they would all attend the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game and pay attention to their respective styles. By the time they got back to the castle, Albus had forgotten about James's stunt with the house-elf until he saw a poster that invited the students of Hogwarts to join the duelling club, which met every Thursday evening. He pointed it out to Scorpius who groaned in protest – he wanted to shower and get out of his uniform – but Albus had a score to settle.

"It won't take long," he muttered, pulling the great doors open. One of the long dining tables was in the centre of the great hall, adorned with a royal-blue velvet cover that spanned its entire length and was intermittently branded with the ancient duelling club crest. The small group of students turned to the door when it creaked open and a few began whispering excitedly. James, who had evidently been leading a discussion - or perhaps suggesting who might duel whom next - grinned when he recognised the two unexpected guests. He jumped up onto the table, drew his wand and flashed his brother a wry smile.

"Oh quit showing off, James," complained Albus.

"Showing off?" asked James, waving his wand around and showering his audience with red and gold sparks - the younger students 'ooh-ed' and 'ah-ed' enthusiastically. They obviously had a great deal of admiration for their 'valiant leader'. "I have no idea what you're talking about," bellowed James. He lowered his voice for dramatic effect, "However, I do recall my favourite little brother mentioning something about a duel for a map…or something, I don't know…" He grinned mischievously but Albus wasn't rising to the bait until… "By the way, Albus," continued James, "Have you owled Uncle Charlie yet?" He winked and Albus shouldered off the emerald outer robe which was caked in mud and rain. The number seven opposite the Slytherin emblem of his quidditch top shimmered in the candlelight. He hopped up onto the table on the far end from James and pulled his wand out of his right sock. "That's the spirit!" James was positively glowing at the prospect of duelling his brother. "What about you Scorpius? Shall we make it a two-on-one?"

A few students gasped at James's confidence and Albus rolled his eyes – Scorpius wasn't interesting in duels. He was surprised, however, when he heard the soft thump and turned to see Scorpius standing up beside him, wand raised. "Ladies and gentlemen," bellowed James as he turned to face the rest of the duelling club. "For the first time in Hogwarts history, it's Potter versus Potter," he added a quiet "and Malfoy" then continued, "for your viewing pleasure." For a small club, there was a lot of cheering. Albus noticed, however, that the Slytherins appeared to be routing for him and Scorpius – maybe wearing a quidditch uniform _did_ make you cooler. "Okay, Albro and the Scorp," said James, his daft nicknames earning a few giggles from the crowd, "Rules are: we bow, turn, walk to the end of the table then we duel. No combustive, explosive or corrosive spells and absolutely no curses are allowed. Hexes and jinxes are permissible – hilarious jinxes will get you double points. When I win, you both join the duelling club; if, by some miracle, you win - you can have any object of mine and I'll stop interrupting your se- "

"JAMES!" yelled Albus, seething. Scorpius caught his eye for the sharpest of moments and suddenly the anger was gone and he was just looking forward to getting all the frustration out.

"On my count boys. Three…two…one…"

He bowed elaborately, Albus and Scorpius awkwardly followed the formality of turning and walking to the table's edge – Albus glancing over his shoulder to make sure they were moving fast enough. As soon as they had turned back to a face James, a jet of red light flashed before his eyes. He dropped to a crouch just in time and it skimmed the very tips of his hair. Within no time at all, a second and third jet had been cast at them in rapid succession. Albus dived forward, landing on his belly with a heavy thud as James's spell missed him by millimetres again; Scorpius managed to cast a shield charm, redirecting the one meant for him back at James who dodged it expertly.

" _Expelliarmus!"_ incanted Albus but, from the ground his aim was off and he missed by a long shot. However, with everyone noticing how poorly aimed his spell was, James was blasted with a jet of water from Scorpius's unexpected _Aquamenti_ spell, leaving the seventh year sopping wet and a large puddle at his feet. Most of the club were laughing, probably having never seen a spell land against James before. Albus sprung up and raised his wand again.

"Weird," remarked James, after expelling a jet of water from his mouth, but he did not look humiliated in anyway – there was a fire of excitement in his eyes. "I like your style, Malfoy." The three of them traded spells and counters in rapid succession with neither side being particularly successful. Almost as if he had been holding back, James picked up the pace, flourished his wand and ropes snaked through the air and bound themselves around Scorpius's ankles, winding their way up his body until he toppled over and was completely immobilised. Albus quickly performed a severing charm, releasing Scorpius from his bindings, ducking just in time as another another spell from James whizzed past his ear. Albus had realised, pretty quickly into the duel, that he wasn't very good at duelling, a direct result of being quite bad with spells in general – he had used almost all of the duelling spells he knew and James had waved them off without batting an eyelid. Scorpius wasn't much better, but he stayed away from offensive magic and stuck to shielding himself or Albus from James's spells or used spells which weren't typically 'battle spells'. That's when the idea hit him.

"Distract him," he muttered to Scorpius – they hadn't landed anything on his brother in a while though they were doing a good job of avoiding or blocking his attacks. Scorpius nodded then cast a loud, screeching jet of sparks which fizzled in a shower of light like a sparkler as they approached the older boy. Being the show-off that he was, James took the opportunity to transfigure the tiny sparks into cherry blossoms which fell around him ornately as if he were in a Japanese post card and earned him yet another round of applause from the rest of the club. He took a cocky bow then stepped forward to cast another spell, however, his feet fell away from him as he slipped on a glistening sheet of ice and landed with a dull thud on his rump, his fall accompanied by a blood-curdling crack. Albus, having frozen the puddle under his brother's feet while he was showing off, imitated his brother with a sarcastic bow to the audience which 'wooped' and roared with laughter. James slipped and struggled to stand as his trainers couldn't get any purchase on the glacier spanning almost half of the entire table. " _Incarcerus,"_ yelled Albus, but the ropes which burst from his wand fell short of James by a about a metre. He felt his face turn red as a few giggles and whispers traversed the room and James grinned like a wild animal as he made it to his knees.

"Nice try, Albro," he said with a smirk. "The ice was good and you almost had me." He waved his wand and Scorpius's shield charm was a fraction too late, his limbs snapped together and he fell backwards, petrified. James then cast _levicorpus_ on his brother whose attention had been stupidly on Scorpius. The spell connected around his middle and, winded, Albus dropped his wand as he was yanked into the air. With both of his opponents immobilised, James had won the duel. The room applauded once again, but it was apparent that it was because it had been a good duel and not simply because James had won. He let Albus down, then unfroze Scorpius. Without the adrenaline from the duel, he was able to steady himself enough to navigate the ice and skate over to the two Slytherins to shake their hands. He turned to the rest of the room. "I'd like you all to formally welcome the duelling club's newest members, Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius I-Don't-Know-His-Middle-Name-or-If-He-Even-Has-One-But-Its-Probably-Something-Naff-Like-Christophe Malfoy!"

"Er, thanks," said Scorpius, exchanging a look with Albus at the ridiculous introduction, "It's Hyperion…"

"Kind of supports my point really, doesn't it?" said James with a wink. "As a welcome to the group, I'm going to give you what you want – even though you lost – as a gesture of goodwill and I hope we'll see you next week."

"You see me all the time," said Albus.

"I mean at the club, doofus," replied James gently slapping his brother on the shoulder. "Next week we're going to learn how to do a proper incarcerous spell, seeing as some people are having difficulty with it…"

"Right," agreed Albus, he had noticed that his brother was holding his left arm at an unusual angle and gave it a callous poke with his wand, James grimacing and pulling away immediately. "Is your arm okay?"

"Not cool, Albus!" complained James, rubbing his tender appendage delicately. "I landed on it when I fell on your ice," he looked from Albus to Scorpius and back again. "I don't think we've ever seen anyone use aquamenti and glacius together like that. Most people stick to mafic from defence against the dark arts."

"It's pretty funny," said Scorpius, "because we're both notoriously bad at charms."

"The pressure of a duel can work all kind of wonders with skills like that," said James. "I can't do half the hexes I know unless someone is trying to kill me – hypothetically of course." He winced as he subconsciously moved his injured arm. "You know, Albus, I think you might have broken my arm."

"Good," replied Albus stubbornly. "That'll teach you to quit spying on me."

"You should be happy!" protested James. "I was keeping an eye on you. You know, trying to look out for you…" Albus glared angrily at his brother. "Okay, I was looking for Stephanie and I just happened to see your names overlapping and I remembered what you told me and, need I remind you, that you sent the demented elf to me first so, really, you had it coming." He folded his arms matter-of-factly.

"Why were you looking for Stephanie?" asked Albus, dread bubbling in the pit of his stomach as he realised that Jame's girlfriend, Lorna, was nowhere to be seen. "Oh, tell me this is a joke," he muttered to himself. Albus rolled his eyes, turned on his heel and leapt from the table and out of the hall.

"It's not what you think," called James, grinning. "I owe you a prize too, come see me when you know what you want."

Albus was still fuming by the time he and Scorpius had reached the common room. Scorpius tried to take his mind off the disdain he was feeling for his brother but his efforts were to no avail. Albus dropped onto a couch in a dark corner of the room and sat moodily with his head in his hand – he had exhausted his ranting on the journey and now all he wanted was to stew quietly in his rage. Scorpius tentatively joined him but he was unsure about what to say so he just whistled languorously to himself. The common room was busy: it was some third year's birthday and the celebration had attracted a lot of attention from the other year groups. Albus hadn't realised how unnoticeable he and Scorpius had become until he felt Scorpius's hand fall haphazardly onto his thigh. Albus remembered their conversation from earlier and suddenly his bad mood was the last thing on his mind. A hopeful, sideways glance from Scorpius was all it took and Albus was ushering his boyfriend to their dormitory.

"Albus!" laughed Scorpius as he was pushed through the door. Although it was an interjection of protest, his eyes were wide and Albus could tell that Scorpius wanted this as much as he did. Before there was any chance to change their minds, Albus threw himself at Scorpius, their bodies connecting in all the right ways as they stumbled to the nearest bed…

In the morning, Albus awoke to find he was very warm. He was so warm that he would go as far to say that the heat was suffocating and he was sweating from every pore in his body. He attempted to roll over and push the covers from his bed but he was faced with some resistance. That was when the events of the night before came flooding back to his mind and he realised he was not alone in his bed. Scorpius's sweaty chest was flush against his back and his arms were wrapped tightly around Albus's body. His heart began to race as he wriggled and writhed around till he was face to face with Scorpius. All the movement had woken the other boy up and he was smiling, his half-lidded eyes drowsily looking into Albus's.

"Morning," said Scorpius, holding in a yawn and loosening his hold on Albus without actually letting go. "Sleep well?"

"I slept great," said Albus. "I'm kind of hot now though and…I stink. No, wait, I think that's you."

"What?" Scorpius's eyes widened then his pale cheeks flushed pink as he realised it was true. "Sorry, I don't normally sweat this much. Not used to sharing a bed with anyone. I'm pretty sure it's not just me though."

"I guess it's not that bad," said Albus as he snuggled closer to Scorpius. "I don't want to go to class today. Can we just stay here?" He looked up into Scorpius's eyes, trying his best to look cute but was pretty sure he had never looked cute in his life. "Please?" he planted a kiss at the base of Scorpius's neck. Scorpius hummed slightly at the contact so Albus continued to kiss a slow trail up his neck to his earlobe then he whispered, "we could do a repeat of last night." He heard Scorpius swallow as the blond boy pulled their waists together so that Albus could feel how his words had affected the boy. He cheered for himself in his head – Scorpius really was as attracted to him in the same way.

"I'm all for doing that again," said Scorpius between heavy breaths as he grabbed hold of Albus's hand which had been tracing shapes along his ribs. "But I think they would notice if we didn't turn up to classes." Albus rolled onto his back irritably but he knew Scorpius was right. They couldn't miss anything or they would just end up with more detentions. "We do have plenty of time before class starts, mind you," said Scorpius, touching Albus under the sheets and making his entire body tingle. "Is this okay?"

Albus nodded. He closed his eyes as Scorpius kissed his neck and had to hold his breath to stop himself from gasping at every touch of Scorpius's hand. For some reason, it felt better in the morning than it had the night before. He pushed the covers from their bodies and drank in what he saw. He had seen Scorpius naked in the dim light of the night but now, in the morning, it was like an entirely new sight. He reached over and began to return the favour that Scorpius was doing for him, the boy rolling onto his back so that they laid side by side. They fell into a rhythm and before long, Albus was gripping the bed and biting his lip as his body found its release. Scorpius touched himself while Albus regained his breath then he too was gasping through his climax.

"Sorry I didn't finish you off," said Albus awkwardly. "I was just out of breath…"

Scorpius laughed then kissed his boyfriend gently on the lips. "I know, I just couldn't wait," he said. "You did it for me last night. We're even." He laid his hand upon Albus's heart then slowly withdrew it, his mouth turning down. "We're sticky," he corrected himself, rubbing his palm on the bedsheet under them.

"Oi!" complained Albus. "I have to sleep here!"

"Lay off, Potter," said Scorpius with a smirk. "They'll be changed by the time we get back tonight."

"Not the point, _Malfoy,_ " snarled Albus playfully, he dipped his finger into the sticky puddle on Scorpius's belly then swiped it across the blond boy's face, howling with laughter at his disgust. Scorpius leapt from the bed instinctively. Albus stared at Scorpius's body with great interest until Scorpius covered his privates in protest. "What? I can't even look anymore? You're no fun."

"I'm loads of fun," said Scorpius, folding his arms and allowing Albus one more glance before announcing that he was going for a shower. He reached the door to the bathroom before he elaborated that Albus should join him. "Mostly because you smell bad," said Scorpius once they had squeezed into the same cubicle. "But also because…" he didn't have the nerve to admit he wasn't ready to stop exploring Albus's body but Albus just winked and turned the water on.

"Shit, it's freezing!" shouted Albus as the ice-cold water hammered against their skin. They collided, bashed elbows and swore many times as they tried to evade the water in the small space they were sharing. Scorpius tentatively held out a hand to gauge the temperature then signalled when it was warm enough to stand under the stream again. Albus felt a stirring in his body as the water rolled down Scorpius's pale, naked skin; his light hair had darkened from the water and clung to his handsome face.

"You're making me nervous with all that staring," said Scorpius though his eyes were closed.

"You can look at me all you want," replied Albus. Scorpius opened his eyes and crouched so he was eye level with Albus's middle. "Okay, okay!" he exclaimed covering himself and taking a step back. "Point taken. I'll try to control myself."

"Don't you dare," said Scorpius, returning to full height and pulling Albus into a kiss. "Think we're clean enough to go to breakfast yet?" They were panting heavily in the humid cubicle and out of breath from the kissing.

"Five more minutes," replied Albus, connecting their lips once more.

By the time they eventually did make it to breakfast they had ten minutes to eat and then the tables cleared themselves. Professor McGonagall stood at the podium in front of the staff table and the usual din of the great hall fell to silence. It was not usual for the headmistress to makes speeches unless it were a special event so every pair of eyes on her was both confused and intrigued.

"Thank you for your attention," began the old woman. "I address each of you today at the request of the minister for magic. As some of you may be aware, Hogwarts has recently played host to some foul magic. Yes, the spells were trivial and to little effect but were nonetheless _forbidden_ and the students involved were removed from the castle. However, it has come to my attention that this incident is not an isolated one and that dark magic has been cast upon school grounds, yet again. I do not wish to cause any undue alarm but, whilst this dark magic has been detected is severe, its source has not yet been located. As headmistress of this school it is my priority to ensure that each of you can learn and reach your full potential as witches and wizards with as little risk to your safety as possible. You can rest assured that the ministry, the faculty and I are doing everything to locate the perpetrator and I urge anyone with information to come forward at once. Thank you again for your attention, you are dismissed."

As soon as she had finished talking, the whole hall erupted into frantic chatter. Why had she been so vague? What was the dark magic that had been cast? Did they really not know who was responsible? What about the people who were suspended? Surely it was just their mates. What if it wasn't a student? Albus exchange a worried look with Scorpius who had gone a sickly shade of green. Was their safety truly at risk? Stephanie caught up to them as they were leaving the great hall.

"Wasn't expecting that," she said, linking an arm with each of them. "Do you think it's any of Carrow's silly little mates messing about?"

"Can't be," answered Scorpius. "They're all still suspended."

"What do you think happened?" asked Albus, his mind was racing. He had had difficulty accepting that his sister had done dark magic 'accidentally' but he had accepted it. Why was he having such difficulty believing that another student would do the same. Unless Lily and Carrow had been imperiused and the real villain was still out there.

"I think she's bluffing," replied Stephanie, rolling her eyes when she realised she would have to explain. "Well obviously, we caught Carrow, his goofy pals and the Potterette casting some tragic no-no spell and they all got suspended for it, right?" The boys nodded in unison. "The same band of sad vol-dorks are due to come back to school this week aren't they?"

"My sister is nothing like Voldemort was," protested Albus but Stephanie waved off his complaint as 'pedantic'.

"The way I see it," continued Stephanie, "is that they are worried that these kids are going to pick up where they left off and they want us to be vigilant because adults – especially teachers – are really good at missing stuff we do."

"So what," began Albus, "McGonagall wants the school to spy on my sister?"

"Noooooooo," said Stephanie, elongating the word into several syllables. "What she's worried about is that Lily and Dicko will come back, get all wicked again and start recruiting. That's what dark wizards do, isn't it? Recruit."

"Please stop referring to my thirteen year old sister as a dark wizard," said Albus despondently as they reached their destination: Charms. "She's not bad, she's just stupid."

"She can cast more spells than us," Scorpius reminded him.

"She can be talented and stupid at the same time," Albus remarked as the three of them found a table near the back together. "And in any case, if they were that worried, wouldn't they all just have been expelled?" Albus couldn't help but enjoy the idea of he and Scorpius having a dormitory to themselves for the next three years. Scorpius had a dreamy look about him and Albus wondered if he were thinking along the same lines.

"Settle down, settle down," came a flustered woman's voice as their Charms Professor scuttled into the room. Professor Quinn was a small woman with a red perm that tumbled over her shoulders. She spoke in a timid voice, with an almost French accent (having spent most of her life teaching at Beauxbatons). Albus liked to believe the accent was faked to give her a shred of personality. "I'd like to first apologise for the late start," she paused to look around at her students as if trying to work out which of them had committed the crime. "I would also like to apologise for a slight change in the class schedule. We were supposed to be working on expansion charms but I have been asked to focus instead on the manipulation of fire. Please do not ask me why," she did not wait for anyone to interrupt. "Let us begin." She held her wand loosely as if it were a pen or a paintbrush as she traced out a simple pattern in the air. "The accompanying incantation, anyone?" Silence. "Miss Smith?"

"Incendio?" answered Danicka Smith enquiringly, earning five points for Ravenclaw and an unusually animated ' _très bien'_ from the professor. Albus could appreciate Danicka's confusion, for incendio was a spell they had learned and mastered in first year. Perhaps she had lost her mind, thought Albus.

"Now," she pointed her wand at her desk and squeaked, " _incendio"._ Immediately a spark ignited a tiny smokeless flame which tickled the very centre of the wooden surface. She muttered, what she insisted, was a confinement charm to prevent it from spreading any further than her desk. "Monsieur Malfoy," she turned her attention to Scorpius. "How would you make the fire grow?"

Scorpius immediately dipped his head awkwardly. He hated being put on the spot in class and, in fact, he and Albus had made avoiding the teacher's eye into an art form over the years but today it had failed and he was in the spotlight. "Er," he looked helplessly between Albus and Stephanie. Albus shrugged but Stephanie was mouthing a spell that Scorpius was clearly struggling to make out. "En-yor-shoo?"

"That would be _Engorgio_ that Madamoiselle in the corner was telling you," Professor Quinn smirked. "Though she is quite right. It would do the trick," she demonstrated and the flames erupted across the surface of the table and began devouring the once polished wood, the flames were now tall enough to lick the stone ceiling. She waved her wand once more and the fire extinguished. Despite Scorpius not knowing the answer, Engorgio was another spell they had learned in first year. Albus was seriously struggling to see the point in this class. "I am now going to introduce you to a certain skill. Observe," her wand traced a combination of both spell patterns and this time when she cast the spell, the fire that erupted from her wand was so large and destructive that it ate through what was left of the table in seconds. She extinguished the flame once again then waved her wand and, from the ashes, her desk reassembled itself. She then cast the regular, smaller flame and performed a series of tricks where she got it to move, float, change colour and even form the shape of a small goat. "The manipulation of fire is an essential life-saving skill." After her thrilling performance, the class was on the edge of their seats and eager to try it for themselves. "But of course, safety first," she waved her wand and a stack of old dusty books soared around the room and dropped onto their tables resulting in a collective groan. "Chapter 23. When you can successfully extinguish a flame, you may try something a little more enchanting. Allons-y!"

By the end of the lesson, everyone had managed to successfully extinguish a small flame and Stephanie, Danicka and a few others had managed to put out the engorged flame the teacher had tested each of them with. Those who had been successful were given a one-on-one tutorial slot with a professor they would see for an hour a week; those who were unsuccessful were allocated an overly complicated and detailed essay on the subject and would be given another attempt at the next lesson.

"I'm not complaining," remarked Albus as they made their way to potions, "because that was way more interesting than what she's normally banging on about, but why the sudden switch? It doesn't make sense. Why is fire suddenly such an issue? I mean, in all these years at Hogwarts, I don't think I've ever even seen a fire outside of a fireplace."

"Hagrid made a bonfire in the pumpkin patch in second year," Scorpius pointed out. "You don't think it's got something to do with what McGonagall said this morning do you?"

"Don't be daft Sorpio," answered Stephanie. "If it were about that surely, she'd have us learning counter curses or something. Not learning how to make fireballs."

"I don't know," said Albus. "It just doesn't add up to me."

"Nor me," agreed Stephanie, "but that's adults for you. On a more serious note, what are you two doing for Christmas this year? You normally stay here till Christmas Eve like all the weirdos, don't you?"

"Rude!" said Scorpius, looking away from her.

"I don't know yet," replied Albus. "Mum will probably want me to go home as soon as possible after everything with Lily. And she'll probably want to punish me when she finds out I broke James's arm."

"What!" exclaimed Stephanie. "You broke his…When did this happen?"

"Last night," said Albus shrugging as he pushed open the door to the dungeon. "We ended up having that duel you were desperate for."

"What?" she turned to Scorpius, anger glinting in her eye. "You too?" Scorpius nodded shamefully. "You mean to say," she inhaled deeply, "that after all that hassle you gave me, you ended up doing it anyway?" Scorpius nodded. "I guess you have bigger balls than I gave you credit for."

"Yep," Scorpius grinned stupidly. "He even offered us a prize for winning so we could have got the map but we figured you didn't need it anymore."

"No," she replied. "I made a deal with James, he wouldn't let me keep the map but he said he'd help me. Turns out he's not as much of a twat as I thought he was. Ugh, I really don't want to be in potions right now."

"You know," said Albus, "last I checked we were friends. Still don't fancy telling us what you're up to?"

"Not today, Potter," grinned Stephanie. "Not today."

When they arrived in the small classroom the Gryffindors were already seated. Some of them had nose-pegs clamped on, others were bravely facing the swampish odour that was permeating the air as if it somehow made them tougher; Albus was quick in securing his own once they had sat at a cauldron containing a thick grey potion that was easily the smelliest that Albus had ever come into contact with. Slughorn announced that the potion they were facing was an antidote to necrotic poisoning – a simple but effective potion that could cure an infection from an undead mauling and prevent vampirism with just three doses. It was going to be a long morning.

Despite having already showered, Albus and Scorpius (and almost all of their classmates) made the decision that the lunch break was a good time to scrub off any excess slime that had managed to escape their cauldrons. They parted ways with Stephanie in the common room and hastily returned to the dormitory bathroom. Albus scrubbed his body so hard he was certain he had broken the skin in some places. With a towel wrapped around his waist, he sat down on his bed and waited for Scorpius. Part of him hoped he wouldn't have to get dressed right away and another part hoped he wasn't making a mistake being physical with Scorpius. Would they be able to go back to being friends if things didn't work out between them? Would they grow to hate each other if things went wrong? He didn't think he could stand the thought. After four years of knowing Scorpius, it already felt like he wouldn't know how to live without him. From the waist-up, Scorpius appeared in the doorway, a toothbrush in his mouth and mumbling something which Albus took to mean, 'I got some in my mouth'. He vanished then reappeared without the toothbrush and clutching a towel to his body.

He sat on the bed opposite Albus and already, Albus's pulse was quickening and his body was reacting to Scorpius's proximity and near nudity. Despite the fear of losing him, Albus couldn't help but crawl over to Scorpius and remove the towel from his body. He kissed him once on the mouth and then they both gave in to their urges once again…

"I bet you're glad you hadn't brushed your teeth yet," said Scorpius as he stepped into his trousers, this time Albus was the one with a toothbrush in his mouth. He stuck a finger up at his boyfriend. They had tried something new…Scorpius had enjoyed it a lot (and so did Albus until…). He spat the toothpaste out and with it, went a taste he was sure he would never get used to no matter how much he wanted to. "I'm sorry," said Scorpius when Albus had returned from the bathroom. "I'll try to warn you next time…"

"Don't be sorry," replied Albus. "It wasn't that bad," he lied. "Not really. It was kind of nice."

"You're a bad liar, Albus," said Scorpius.

"I know," said Albus. "But you still don't need to apologise: I'm happy we're doing this. Though I think you really need to see for yourself what it's like. Maybe after dinner. Or before bed." Scorpius looked terrified all of a sudden but he nodded anyway.

"I will," he affirmed. "I'm sorry if it's rubbish though."

"Stop apologising!" said Albus. "You'll be no worse than I was."

"Right," agreed Scorpius. "I'll just do what you did," he paused. "It was really good by the way."

Note: I was thinking of making this story more explicit but I'm worried that this chapter might already have gone a bit far. Either way I'm considering changing the rating. Let me know if it's a terrible idea.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Slytherin Vs Hufflepuff**

"Damn it," snarled Albus. A wispy cascade of white vapour dribbled feebly from the tip of his wand for the fourth time during the lesson. Scorpius sniggered and pointed out its resemblance to something that made Albus's face hot and caused his palms to sweat enough that he had to wipe them on his trousers lest he drop his wand.

"Language, Albus," said Harry, chastising his son despite grinning affectionately much to the amusement of the rest of the class. It was humiliating enough that his father was teaching them patronuses but to be failing. so badly in front of everyone, was on a totally new level. Albus just couldn't get to grips with it. "Again - and try to find a happy memory."

"I have a happy memory!" he snapped, feeling his face flush. "Will you go help somebody else?" he whined, looking around at the other groups in the room. Nobody had produced a corporeal patronus yet but several students were succeeding in strong vaporous shields which, according to his father, meant they almost had it. "Please, Dad," he said under his breath.

"Okay," said Harry, patting his son on the shoulder with concern – Albus flinched instinctively and Harry withdrew his hand. "Can I at least stay and see Scorpius try?"

Albus nodded, folded his arms and perched upon one of the desks that had been pushed to the edge of the room. Scorpius looked at him for a moment, Albus gave him an encouraging smile even though he didn't feel particularly happy, then the blond boy cast the spell. Albus's jaw dropped as a large transparent cat pounced from the tip of Scorpius's wand and raced around the room playfully. The success of the spell startled Scorpius so much that he dropped his wand and almost tripped over his own feet as he stumbled backwards.

"Well done Scorpius," said Harry, "I'm sure Professor Forrest will agree that some house points are deserved." He waited but there was no response so he turned to their usual professor. "Gareth?"

"Oh," said the rotund ginger-beared Irishman who had been reading a book behind his desk while his guest took the class. "Right, er, twelve points to Slytherin."

 _Twelve,_ Albus mouthed questioningly to Scorpius at the random number. Scorpius shrugged then grew red in the face as their classmates surrounded him, some of them asking him to do it again, others migrating towards him as if it would bring them some luck with their own attempts. "I don't know how it happened," admitted Scorpius raising his hands. "And I don't think I'll be able to do it again," he then spoke under his breath, "I don't even know where I dropped my wand." Albus caught his eye then gave Scorpius's wand a sarcastic flick, having picked it up when the other boy was being swarmed. The blond boy grinned, the crowd dissipated and he returned to Albus's side.

"Now that one of us knows how to fight dementors I'm sure my dad will leave us alone," mocked Albus stubbornly as a large ghostly horse trotted in front of them as a girl squeaked excitedly that it looked just like the one she'd had as a child. "It's weird but it felt like he knew," said Albus when he was sure nobody could over hear them, "about us, I mean. About what we did…"

"Are you crazy?" Scorpius whispered loudly. "We can't talk about _that_ here! Your dad is ten feet away and I'm pretty sure he's starting to like me…" He looked backwards over his shoulder to make sure Harry wasn't standing right behind him.

"Scorpius," said Albus sternly. Now he was glancing around the room to make sure they couldn't be heard. "Scorpius, I'm going mad now that we can't…you know." He tugged awkwardly at his shirt collar as he suddenly felt very hot but his words seemed to resonate with Scorpius who was now fidgeting as well: Carrow and their dormmates had returned to Hogwarts and now there were no opportunities for he and Scorpius to be intimate again. "Every time you're near me, I feel like I need to touch you. I'm worried I'm going to slip up and someone will find out about what we've been doing."

"Me too," Scorpius admitted. "Maybe we'd be better off telling people…but then my dad would find out and I don't think he's ready to know, I mean, I'm the last Malfoy. I don't know if he'll ever be ready to know." He opened his mouth to speak but stopped when Albus stood suddenly and raised his wand as if they had been practising the whole time. Harry had reappeared beside them looking cautious. "Hey Mr Potter," said Scorpius clumsily. "Or is it professor? Should I be calling you Professor Potter if you're teaching us?"

"Don't worry about it," laughed Harry. "I'm not your teacher, you can call me Harry."

"Thanks Mr Potter," said Scorpius beaming much to Albus's bemusement.

"So Albus," said Harry carefully. "Fancy trying once more for me? Think of it as a favour and nobody's watching this time. What was your happy memory?" Albus groaned. He had been thinking about his first kiss with Scorpius. It was the happiest memory he could come up with and it had done absolutely nothing for him and he couldn't think of anything else. He glared at his dad for even asking and Harry took the hint – it was personal.

"Okay," said Harry moving over to Albus's side. "You don't have to tell me," he paused, "but whatever memory you choose, it has to be something really deep. When I first tried to cast a patronus, I thought about flying for the first time and my teacher told me first times don't ever really work."

"Well what did you think about then?" asked Albus curious to know something so intimate about his father.

"It was a memory," started Harry, Scorpius edged closer as if he would miss something if he were so far away. "Well, it might not even have been a memory, it could have been a dream – I think the memory doesn't have to have actually happened – it's really all about the feeling it gives you. Anyway, it was a memory"-

-"or a dream," interrupted Albus sardonically.

"Right," said Harry, clearly becoming frustrated with his son. "I was a baby, well, my parents were alive and I could hear my mother's voice. It was the only thing that worked when I was your age. It's always a tricky spell for young people," he continued. "It's funny how things in life change your perspective on what it is to be truly happy."

"Dad, you're so embarrassing," said Albus dryly. "Next you're going to tell me how nothing makes you happier than the memory of your three favourite people being born."

"Well, two of them," said Harry. Albus felt his mouth snap shut at his father's unexpected come back and realised he, himself, was grinning. It had been a long time since they had been able to joke with each other and Albus realised that he had missed it. It was then that he realised that his dad was right. His first kiss was superficial – it was too recent an event to really bring up any deep feelings. "Ready to give it another go then?"

"Er," said Albus nervously, "right." He furiously wracked his brain for anything that might do the job. He didn't know why but the memory of being trapped in his father's past stuck out in his head, holding his dad's hand in Godrick's Hollow as they waited for his grandparents to be murdered by Voldemort. It was hardly a happy memory and had a dementor been in the room he was certain he would be providing it with material it could feed on for years. "I can't get my thoughts straight," he said.

"Take your time," said Harry. "Maybe it would help if you had a word with Scorpius and see if you can get some inspiration." With that he returned to circling the room and offering words of encouragement to the other students. "Well done Danicka! Your brother's patronus is a hawk too, did you know that?" Danicka asked about her father's patronus, she had never seen it and he and Harry worked together at the ministry. "I've never seen it," he answered abruptly before smiling and encouraging her to continue the good work: Albus knew his father hated Zacharias Smith and he had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing at the exchange. He turned his attention back to Scorpius.

"What were you thinking about when you cast it?" asked Albus when his father was out of earshot once again.

"I don't really know," said Scorpius awkwardly cracking his knuckles. "It's like a mixture of memories really. Time I spent with my mum before she died," he looked at the ground as he spoke, "remembering how my dad used to look at her." His voice seemed to quiver as he spoke and Albus moved to throw his arms around him, remembered his father was in the room and thought better of it, instead grasping him firmly by the shoulder affectionately, a gesture that could easily pass for friendship…

"Sorry," Albus mumbled. "I'm just not very good at this comforting thing."

"You are," replied Scorpius, smiling again. "You'll figure out something that'll work or, with any luck, it won't come up in the exam and we'll just keep an eye out for signs that say, 'Warning: Dementors Nearby'," he framed the words in the air with his hands.

Albus laughed then squeaked as a giant spider-shaped patronus scuttled around beside him much to the amusement of a guffawing Derrick Douglas. Albus gave him two fingers, lost seven ( _Seven?_ he mouthed to Scorpius) points from Slytherin then the class was over and students began filing out of the room. Albus felt obliged to wait behind and speak to his dad before heading off to his next class. Scorpius seemed undecided whether he should wait in the room or wait outside so Albus nodded that he should stay.

"Hey Albus," said Harry, smiling. "Sorry you didn't get there with the spell today," he glanced over at their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher who was dozing peacefully in his chair. "Is he always this alert?"

"No," admitted Albus. "He's usually really loud and blowing things up. I guess having someone in doing your job for you must be really exhausting."

Harry laughed then seemed to think better of it and stopped. He seemed to be hesitating about what to say next before throwing caution to the wind. "So, we haven't properly spoken about what happened with Lily," said Harry, addressing both Albus and Scorpius. "James told me it was you two that noticed what was going on."

"It was mostly Albus," said Scorpius modestly. "I was just kind of there."

"Anyway," said Harry with a reassuring smile. "I don't want to think about what could have happened had you both not been there but next time something like this happens, tell an adult. Write me a letter or go straight to Professor McGonagall. Otherwise, thanks for keeping Lily in check."

"So is that her back at school then?" asked Albus. He hadn't seen Lily yet but he assumed that the return of the Slytherin boys was sign enough that his sister was back too. Harry let out a sigh and shifted awkwardly.

"Lily is back on a trial basis," said Harry. "Don't tell your mum but Lily said some really strange things when she came home. We had her tested for all kinds of curses but they all came back negative: she's the only one in her head. I'm only telling you because I've told James and I don't want you to be the only one who doesn't know. We're in a delicate situation with Lily just now so I don't want you storming off and getting yourself involved, okay?"

"Okay," agreed Albus. Was his father seriously admitting that his sister was mental? After all these years of him telling his parents, they were starting to finally take the hint. Then again, he had always been joking before now. "Is she going to end up in St. Mungos?"

"Albus! No of course not!" snapped Harry angrily, then he sighed again. "Well, at least, I hope not." He turned his attention to Scorpius. "While you're both here, I wanted to invite you to spend some time at ours over the Christmas break, Scorpius." Scorpius's eyes widened with surprise. "I treated you unfairly last year and I am sorry. Any friend of Albus's is welcome in our house any time."

"Really?" asked Albus looking between Scorpius and his father. "You really mean that, Dad?"

"I really mean it," answered Harry. "What do you say Scorpius? Think you can manage an extra week of Albus's snoring?"

"I'll ask my dad and let you know right away," said Scorpius, beaming excitedly. "Thanks Mr Potter!"

"Right," said Harry, smiling. "I've taken up enough of your time, you'd better get to your next class before you lose any more house points." Albus hugged his father, hoping that his appreciation of his dad's gesture would show.

"Bye dad."

"See you, Mr Potter," said Scorpius. When they had left the corridor Scorpius exploded into series of rude words, gestures and wild breaths. "He knows," he gasped. "He definitely knows. I could tell by the way he looked at me."

"He doesn't know, dummy," laughed Albus punching him lightly on the shoulder. He glanced quickly around the empty hall before pecking Scorpius quickly on the cheek. "At least, I don't think he knows. Would he invite you over to spend a week in my bedroom if he knew?" he paused for thought. "I don't know. Seems unlikely though: James's girlfriends are never allowed to stay in his room."

"Thanks," said Scorpius, looking around to make sure nobody had seen, they were scheduled in for Care of Magical Creatures but, when they reached the enchanted staircase, Scorpius continued walking.

"Where are you going?" asked Albus but Scorpius had grabbed him by the wrist and was leading him up the corridor. Heart pounding, he bit his lip to stop himself from making any embarrassing noises. They burst through the door to the boys bathroom. It was empty, thankfully, for before the door was even shut, Scorpius's mouth was on his; his body was trapped between the door and Scorpius.

He gasped when they broke apart – Scorpius looked flustered and apologised but Albus took no notice of the words and, instead, threw himself back at the other boy, their chests colliding with such force that it knocked the wind out of their lungs. They kissed for a short eternity and they were on the verge of getting carried away when the doorknob turned against the small of Albus's back causing him to gasp and arch towards Scorpius who held onto him with one hand and held the door shut with the other.

"What do we do?" he whispered to Albus who leaned back against the flat part of the door as the knob continued to rattle.

A fist was pounding on the wood and a boy's muffled voice claimed to be desperate. Albus was resentful that the moment had been spoiled and he was starting to get the feeling he would never truly be alone with Scorpius again, especially now that all of their dormmates had returned to the castle. He was, however, glad they had at least had some chance to explore their relationship before they were under constant scrutiny again.

"Come on," said the voice weakly. "I'm going to pee myself."

Albus looked at Scorpius whose face was full of guilt as they made the decision to open the door. Thankfully, their wild imaginations of being discovered and outed to the rest of the school were just that – wild imaginations. The boy turned out to be William the Hufflepuff whom Ginny had hexed and was so desperate for the bathroom that Albus was sure he didn't even recognise them much less work out why they had been holding the door closed. They didn't wait around to find out and, instead made their way to the grounds.

Punishably late, Hagrid welcomed them happily, having heard that Harry was in the building assumed that they had stayed behind to catch up and thus he did not punish their lateness. Stephanie greeted them when they arrived, Hagrid was talking about thestrals and nobody was paying much attention.

"Where were you this morning?" asked Scorpius noting the girl's absence from Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," she said, "I don't want to talk about it. Do you see anything? I don't see anything."

Albus looked from Scorpius to the giant skeletal winged-horses that had wandered out onto the grounds. Scorpius edged closer to Albus such that they were now shoulder to shoulder. They were quite terrifying, he thought, as they approached the offering of dead ferrets Hagrid had prepared for them.

"So who can see 'em?" asked Hagrid enthusiastically. Albus and Scorpius exchanged a look between themselves but did not raise their hands. They were the spine-chilling beasts that pulled the carriages that, until this year they had been unable to see. "Just one?" a Ravenclaw boy nodded enthusiastically. "Thestrals can only be seen by those who have seen death," explained Hagrid. "Ol' folks say seein' 'em's a bad sign bu' there harmless, really."

"They don't look harmless," whispered Scorpius to Albus who was quick to agree, he leaned into Scorpius a little more, as all the eyes were facing the front, squinting to see the invisible beasts.

The rest of the week was very heavy on homework. They had moved on from fire charms with Professor Quinn (after finally passing the extinguishing competence Albus was allocated Professor Forrest as his personal tutor; Scorpius received Professor McGonagall and was 'pissing his pants') and all further 'spell-weaving' (as she called it) would be practiced with their tutor so that she could return to the class schedule. Albus was excelling in potions, he had mastered the technique for each of the assignment on his first attempt (the wolfsbane potion, doxy-venom antidote and a Giggling Draught) and he was pretty confident he would be able to recreate them from memory when the class test came around before the Christmas break. In transfiguration, he and Scorpius were both drowning and were relying on advice from Stephanie when she was confident or James when she was not. They were no closer to figuring out what Stephanie was trying to hide from the rest of the castle; Albus followed her one night but got lost in a secret passage, ended up in Hogsmeade and spent an hour walking back to the castle in the coldest of winds only to receive an extra detention on the upcoming Sunday. To top it all off, the first quidditch match of the year was set to take place on Saturday so the team was practising with every spare minute they could find.

By the time Saturday morning finally came around, Albus was so tired he didn't think he'd even be able to see the snitch never mind fly around after it. He sat with the rest of the team at breakfast: they were all already in uniform as was often the case on match days; the same was true for the Hufflepuff team across the hall. Marroway was talking last minute tactics to the team whilst Artemis was self-consciously rubbing his recently shaved head. He had said goodbye to his signature golden locks and opted for a buzzcut earlier in the week 'to improve his aerodynamics' (although Scorpius was convinced it was to stop Slughorn from harassing him about looking like his Aunt). The girls that followed the team around didn't seem to mind the poster-boy's change in appearance, there were tearful whispers of 'brave' and 'dedication' that his new 'average' look seemed to have bolstered his popularity. Connor Bates, as it turned out, fit into the team better than Derrick ever did despite not being as good a player. Nerves were running high and, on one occasion when a group of giggling followers couldn't keep the noise down, Marroway slammed his fist on the table so hard the wood split.

"Chill out, Supreme Overlord of Slytherin Quidditch," said Jenny with a laugh. "I'm sure the table never meant to disrespect you, _Reparo._ " The crack knitted itself back together and Jenny laced her fingers into Marroways. "Listen Harls," she cooed at the massive beater. "We've got this," she squeezed his hand and then her tone switched to her usual signature aggression. "Now will you stop stressing out and eat some bloody breakfast before I force it down your throat!"

"Are they together?" Albus whispered to Scorpius under his breath. His theory about Marroway being secretly in love with Smith was in jeopardy due to the blatant public displays of affection he was seeing across the table. Scorpius shrugged, he'd never asked. "Have they always been close like that?"

"I don't know Albus!" snapped Scorpius. "Sorry, I'm nervous." He put his hand on Albus's bare knee under the table and the contact set his nerves on fire. Albus moved his leg so that it was against Scorpius's, hoping that it had the same effect on his boyfriend as it had had on him.

"Oh shit," came Smith's voice followed by a clang, Albus didn't process what was happening till it was too late to rectify. Smith was under the table picking up whatever he had just dropped and Scorpius's hand was on the inside of Albus's thigh. They both froze until Smith had re-joined them at the table brandishing the silver instrument and grinning. "I hope you can hold on to the Snitch better than I can hold onto my spoon, Albus." A group of 'Team-Arty' girls burst out laughing.

"I think I'm going to vomit," said Scorpius and to Albus's bemusement, two girls squealed at the other end of the table and he realised they were obviously 'Team-Scorpius'. He was suddenly no longer hungry and itching to get out of there away from their supporters.

"Let's go get some air," he said to Scorpius coolly, he stretched his tired body as he stood and was slightly less irritated to realise he had gained a following too. He suddenly wondered if the girls on the team got this kind of attention from boys. He made a mental note to ask Stephanie or Jenny when the match was over. "We'll get you down at the pitch."

"Don't wander too far," Marroway warned them, "or it'll be extra laps every practice for the rest of the year."

"Yessir!" replied Albus with a mock salute before he marched Scorpius out to the grounds. There was a chill in the air and the sky was a blanket of white. "Why does the uniform have to be shorts?" he complained. "I'm going to freeze to my broom." Scorpius laughed then began the descent to the quidditch field. There were some students on the path already and, if his eyes weren't mistaking him, Albus could make out a few dark specks already sitting in the stalls.

"Think we could disappear for five minutes?" asked Scorpius. "I really am nervous. I've never played a real game of quidditch like this, I could use the support."

"I haven't either," said Albus then nodded to the forbidden forest. "If we don't go in too deep I'm sure we can be alone in there without being murdered by wolves or giant spiders or whatever else lives in the forest." Scorpius nodded and the deviated from the path and they were soon swallowed by the mouth of the forest. They were only a few metres into the woods and already most of the light had been blocked out by the gnarled branchy canopy – the only reason they could see at all was because most of the trees' leaves were on the ground beneath their feet.

"This is far enough," said Scorpius, they were in deep enough that they could just see the grass outside of the forest and no more. They were in just a few metres and already their ears were filled with the crackling of branches, the heavy beating of wings and the distant howls of the creatures that made the forest their habitat. They embraced tenderly: Albus's arms around Scorpius's waist; Sorpius's around Albus's shoulders, his hands were in his hair. "Is it bad that I already miss this?"

"I can tell, it's poking me in the hip," said Albus, trying to make light of the situation. Thankfully Scorpius laughed and commented that at least it could reach his hip and he pulled him closer to emphasise the point. "I miss it too," admitted Albus. "I hate having to wait for times like this so I can kiss you." His hand dropped to Scorpius's behind and he pulled him closer, grinding their arousals together.

"Speaking of…" said Scorpius, pouting comically, "…you haven't kissed me yet." He closed his eyes and puckered his lips like a child. Albus grinned, swiftly lifted Scorpius's green quidditch shirt and planted his kiss neatly on his flat, pale abdomen. Scorpius giggled and instinctively took a step back. "That tickled," he pointed out. He grabbed Albus by the wrists and pinned them to the nearest tree, slamming their bodies together and accidentally knocking the wind from Albus's lungs. He apologised quickly then kissed him hard on the lips. Albus leaned up into Scorpius's body, framing the other boy's hips with his own, grinding against him. They were no longer kissing but instead gasping for air: Albus was holding Scorpius up and the tree was holding Albus up or it _was_ holding him up…until it moved. The giant oak tore its roots up from the ground, the sound rattled the earth below them like an earthquake and startled them so much that they fell to the ground. They held onto each other as they watched, with fearful eyes, as the giant tree waddled away deeper into the forest, pushing past its brethren with such force that they threatened to topple over. "They move!" gasped Scorpius, on top of Albus who was flat on his back, his legs wide open such that he was certain ants would be crawling into his shorts. "The bloody trees move!"

The stood, dusted each other off – Scorpius pulled a twig from Albus's hair and Albus removed a dry, black leaf that had somehow ended up trapped in Scorpius's waistband. They embraced once more, then made their way back out of the forest, hoping that they were still early enough to satisfy Marroway's demand.

Upon leaving the forest, daylight displayed all the grubby stains from rolling around in the dirt which they had been unable to see in the forest's darkness. They were now stammering to try and explain to their teammates in the changing room, both starting to tell a different story then both stopping and trying to give credit to the other's story. It wasn't working.

"Does it really matter where they were or why they look like a bag of dirty washing?" asked Artemis rolling his hands in the air as he spoke. "Do we really need to know why Scorpius has a muddy hand print on his arse or why Albus's front is clean but his back is filthy?" He paced to the other side of the room and turned once again to face them. "Can we not just be glad that they made it here in time before Marroway spontaneously combusted and burnt to a crisp or died of heart failure or an aneurysm?" He opened his mouth to continue but Marroway covered it with his massive hand.

"Can we just play quidditch?" he asked in his gruff voice then he pulled his hand away from Artemis's mouth in disgust and rubbed it on his shirt. "Really , Arty?" Artemis flicked his tongue out like a snake and gave a quiet hiss.

"Don't worry 'bout it," said Smith, he seemed to consider saying nothing else but the opportunity to mess with his best friend was evidently too good to pass up. "It was a little bit sweaty…You tasted pretty good though, what you been eating? ROCKS?" He flexed his muscles sarcastically. Marroway threatened to do something unspeakable to Artemis's 'rocks' if he didn't get his act together and start taking the match seriously. "Seriously?" questioned Artemis irritably. "If I were so serious I'd be another you, Harley! If the team needed two of you there wouldn't be two captains would there?"

Albus felt his mouth fall open as their leaders full-on argued. Jenny seemed rather cool about the whole situation and she explained in a low voice, as if they were spectators at an event, that they always argued like this on match days and that the team should get used to it, "Maybe bring snacks to the next one." Smith and Marroway resolved their differences, hugged – Smith sniffed once as if he were about to cry – then they went over their minimalistic strategy of trying to be good without giving all their moves away.

"If you see the snitch early," said Marroway to Albus, "catch it. Don't hang about waiting for extra points first – we don't need them yet. Scorpius, keep up front, you're our centre-forward, if I see you behind that halfway line for anything other than dodging a bludger I'll hex you myself. Steph, stay near our hoops, you're the muscle if any of their guys get too close – not that you need the help, Connor, we'd have her do the same for Derrick if he were still here. Jenny, keep an eye on the quaffle, be where you need to be to get it forward. Anything to add, Arty?"

"If I hit you with a bludger, I'm sorry," Artemis answered with a grin. "But if I hit you, at least you'll know I meant it because I am some shot. No, I am _the_ shot. The shot and I – we are one." Marroway heaved a heavy sigh then they all woofed in a circle like dogs for a while – Albus always felt ridiculous when they did this but afterwards he really _did_ feel the benefit of the dumb ritual: he was ready to tear the pitch apart.

Out on the field, they were greeted by the flying instructor, quidditch facilitator and former captain of the Chudley Canons, Richie Lewis. They took their positions on the ground. Marroway and the Hufflepuff captain shook hands. The first whistle blew and they took to the air. The snitch was released, Albus tried to follow its tiny golden body but he soon lost it to the dull sky. A glance at the Hufflepuff seeker told him, thankfully, that she was in the same boat for her eyes were darting everywhere trying to capture another glimpse of the winged ball. The bludgers and the quaffle were released upon the second whistle and they were off. Roxanne Weasley was commentating the match and was sure to point out that Albus was her cousin, a bit of a weirdo and had never expressed any interest in sport in his life and that she was shocked to even see him on the team, thinking it had all been some sneaky propaganda tactic from the Slytherin team. Albus snapped his head round just in time to see her being chastised by Professor Longbottom and from then on, she promised to comment only on the match.

"Aaaaand Wintertop has the quaffle," boomed Roxanne's squeaky adolescent voice through the megaphone followed by a lower, "What? They've scored twice already? Must've missed that." Albus grinned as he watched Scorpius receive the quaffle and score for a third time – their training really had made him a better player. And his relationship, Albus realised, was making him, Albus, a worse one: he had to focus on finding the snitch and stop drooling over Scorpius. He saw it too late, a bludger was half a metre from his face and it was too close to dodge it. "Potter is saved by a wonderful shot from Smith – that would have been a sore one if it had hit. The score is _forty_ – _zero_ to Slytherin thanks to another lovely goal this time from Wintertop, scoring right from the halfway mark: truly a shot for the record books – I'm sure James Potter will be up to the task of beating it in his match against Ravenclaw next weekend – Okay, okay, Professor I'll get back to the match…er who has the quaffle? Is that Carr? No it's Barr. Barr has the quaffle – Hufflepuff in possession and – OW! – Barr is down! Barr bites the bludger. That Smith _really_ is quite the player and sporting a new haircut, thoughts ladies?" Smith gave a twirl in the air as the commentary became about him and was almost taken out by a bludger from Marroway who was now screaming across the pitch for him to 'get it together'. "An interesting development," continued Roxanne, "as Slytherin co-captain Farroway – sorry – Marroway and Smith appear to be trying to eliminate each other. What a truly fascinating strategy from the Slytherin team. Galloway scores for Hufflepuff that is now _forty – ten_ to Slytherin."

Albus had found the zone and he aimed to stay in it. He had tuned out the crowd, the chanting and, most definitely, the commentary all in aim of finding the snitch. He had dropped all concern about the bludgers knowing that Marroway was circling near enough to protect his skull should another one try to bash it in. Every so often he glanced towards the opposition's seeker to make sure she hadn't made any more progress than him – she hadn't. From what Albus could tell, the cold had gotten to her: her knees were knocking beneath her broom and her shoulders were shivering. His heart dropped. He had spotted the snitch, it was zipping around the back of the other seeker's head. If she turned around now she could easily pluck it from the air within a second. He had to get there fast, and without her noticing. He allowed himself to drift in her direction but he would never make it in time if she noticed him rushing in her direction. The game was lost unless…

Just as the hope had crossed his mind a bludger was rocketing towards his head. "Marroway!" he shouted as the captain came speeding toward him with his bat raised. "Seeker! Their seeker!" Marroway understood so, when he arrived to smack the bludger out of Albus's path he aimed for the Hufflepuff seeker with no mercy. The aggressive ball sped through the air as if it had been fired from a cannon. Albus waited a couple of seconds till the girl saw that she had been targeted and began to move away. As soon as she had moved, Albus darted through the air, following the path of the bludger. As he approached, the snitch zipped upward and rocketed around the pitch as fast as its little metal wings could carry it.

"Potter is after the snitch," cried Roxanne. "Just like that, it could be…yes it is! It's all over! Potter catches the snitch and Slytherin is awarded _one hundred and fifty_ points. That leaves the final score _one hundred and ninety_ to Slytherin and _thirty_ to Hufflepuff and the crowd is starving for more. See you all next week when we will see..." Roxanne dropped the megaphone from the stand and it screeched as it fell, leaving everyone with an awful ringing sensation for the moments that followed.

Albus flew down to the ground where he was practically engulfed by the rest of his team, Smith was jumping up and down and punching the air so vehemently that he pulled a muscle. Thankfully Albus was the only one who saw this and Marroway was unable to lose his temper in a moment they should be celebrating. Their cheers and chants, as they returned to the castle, were echoed by the Slytherin students who had attended the match; there was always something special about winning the first one of the year, Marroway said it set the standard and made the team 'the one to beat', which also meant they had targets on their backs. Albus didn't really understand what Marroway meant by that but he figured he would find out sooner or later whether he wanted to or not.

The Slytherin common room was alive with noise right into the early hours of the morning and would have been longer had the portraits on the walls not started complaining. The team were the last in the room – Derrick Douglas had hung about till the end too as if hoping he would miraculously be allowed back on the team but he eventually gave up and accepted that he was out and retired. Marroway made them raise a glass – for the millionth time – to what was undoubtedly a great game. Then Smith in an act of sarcasm had them raise a glass to the 'best game of the season'. They all enjoyed a laugh then the girls retired to bed.

"You head off, Harley," said Smith, "I'll catch up with you." Marroway seemed to hesitate for a moment but left for bed regardless. Albus had a funny feeling he knew what was coming – Scorpius must have known too for he instinctively edged away from him when they were alone. "What?" asked Smith obviously noticing the awkward atmosphere. "So how long have you two been having it off then?" he asked when he was sure they wouldn't be overheard. "Oh come on!" he exclaimed when neither of them spoke. "You don't have to be like that, I'm not an ogre," he laughed. "I'm not going to be an asshole, I want to help you guys out." He waited, opening his arms to show there were no tricks up his sleeves. "Okay, tell me when you're ready. In the meantime, though, this place can get a little crowded when you want to be alone," he sighed then snatched up a piece of parchment that had several games of noughts and crosses scribbled all over it and wrote down a short list of instructions which he thrust into Scorpius's trembling hand. He then directed them to the room of requirement insisting that it would make their lives easier if they learned how to use it. "Just do what it says on the note and the room will be whatever you need it to be. You guys did well tonight," he walked towards the boys dormitories, turning only once he reached the door frame, "but Potter, if I'm halfway across the pitch try to dodge the bloody bludgers – that was a close call today and I might be the best shot but I'm not the quickest. That would be you. Learn to use it buddy. Goodnight." He vanished into the corridor leading down to the lower level dormitories.

"What just happened there?" asked Scorpius dumbly. "Did he just… Does he?"

"Yes," said Albus. "I am now one thousand percent certain that Artemis Smith knows we're together. On the Brightside," he flicked the note in Scorpius's hand, "it looks like we might not need to keep sneaking into the forest and we can stop running the risk of becoming spider food."

"If this room even exists," replied Scorpius. "This could just be a stupid joke, you know what Artemis is like: he thinks serious is for criminals and psychopaths." Albus shrugged and claimed he was willing to try it.

"Unless you want to risk it in the dormitory?" said Albus slyly. "We could hold our breath while we - "

"Albus!" whispered Scorpius frantically but Albus just continued to grin that mischievous grin that sent Scorpius into a frenzy. "You are really turning me on right now. But you know that. You are so aware of what you're doing and it's unreal and unfair and, oh sod it." He kissed Albus and in that moment, neither of them cared if they were being watched. They kissed their way to the nearest sofa. Albus was on top of Scorpius, then they had switched and someone's shirt was on the floor but it all happened so fast and they were so tired and full of lust…

Albus awoke to a wet puddle of drool. He grimaced and wiped his mouth then suddenly his heart was in his throat. He was on top of Scorpius, in the common room and they were in their underwear. How had they been so careless? He sat up straight, the change in weight distribution waking Scorpius who, still half-asleep, hadn't taken in their situation yet. When the penny finally dropped, he gasped and they were scrambling into their clothes, or, all of what they could find – Albus had lost a sock to the inside of the couch. Thankfully there was a few hours before breakfast still and it was a Sunday so the chances that anyone saw them were narrow. Nonetheless, they bade a silent goodnight and returned to their own beds: they would absolutely be trying out the room of requirement next time.

"The cloak," said Albus in the Great Hall on Sunday afternoon. He and Scorpius had separate detentions that day so he had opted to spend a few hours playing chess with James who was annihilating him. He wondered how his brother would fair against Scorpius who, being the goofy weirdo he was, was surprisingly good at the activity. "I want the invisibility cloak for joining the duelling club."

"Really?" asked James, instructing his queen into the square containing Albus's kingside bishop. They both winced as she ruthlessly choke-slammed the tall white piece into tiny bits of debris. "I bought this set from Uncle George and Uncle Ron's shop. I think they might have made them more violent somehow – did she just spit on your bishop's remains?"

"Yes," said Albus with an open mouth. "She did." he reached out and attempted to flick James's black queen in the face but as his finger extended she jabbed it with her sceptre, piercing his skin like a tiny needle. "Bitch," he muttered under his breath before putting the wound into his mouth to sooth the pain and was infuriated further when the tiny marble queen blew a raspberry at him. "Maybe I'll forget the cloak and settle chucking that queen of yours into a fireplace or something." As if on cue, she stuck her middle finger up at Albus. Having learned from his previous mistake, he pulled out his wand and gave her an angry tap on the head and revelled as she wabbled dizzily on the spot for a few seconds. "Ha, how'd you like that, Victoria?"

"Victoria?" asked James, puzzled. "I think you're getting too involved with this chess piece Albus. When you start naming and having disputes with them…"

"You're right," said Albus. "I'm letting her get to me. You have to admit, she does look a bit like Queen Victoria. Squint your eyes," he insisted. "Come on, do it! I'm not crazy!"

"That's what a crazy person would say," said James. "Speaking of crazy…did Dad speak to you about…"

"Lily?" answered Albus. "Yeah, he mentioned that she was saying some psycho-nonsense but he never really went into any detail. I just guessed it was her playing up to get out of trouble, you know what she's like. Remember that time she gave me a black eye then flung herself down the stairs to make it look like I'd done something worse? That was when she was five," he recalled the memory with a shiver. "Imagine how good at acting she must be now with seven years of practice."

"Eight," said James. "Maybe," thought James, then his queen turned and was waving frantically at him and performing rude gestures to egg him on to speed up the game. "I've had enough of her," said James withdrawing his wand and pointing it at his queen. She put her tiny hands up in surrender. "Would you like the honour or shall I, dear brother?"

"Oh please," answered Albus. "Allow me," the tiny queen gave them both the finger furiously before Albus blew her to smithereens with the tip of his wand and a well-executed confringo charm that seared a hole through the granite board and scorched the table. Many eyes were looking their way, searching for the source of the bang but James simply waved and smiled as if there were nothing to see. "So," continued Albus, "do you know anything more about what happened with Lily?"

"Dad only really told me the same as you," admitted James. "He really doesn't want us getting involved but I heard from Rose," he rolled his eyes as Albus tutted subconsciously. "Really?" remarked James. "You have Scorpius and you're still annoyed at Rose for doing literally nothing?"

"Could you be any louder James," whispered Albus furiously. "I don't think anyone on the third floor quite managed to hear you!" Albus glanced around trying to work out if anyone had been close enough to hear his brother's comment and decided that it was unlikely.

"I honestly don't see why you're worried about anyone finding out," said James. "I don't think anyone will treat you any differently."

"I hope not," said Albus. "We'll have to tell people someday but I guess it's just not at the top of our priorities right now. So, what was that you were going to say about Rose?" He was desperate to find out anything else that he could about his sister's story without out-right asking her himself. He was sure his father would consider that 'getting involved'.

"Apparently," said James, leaning in towards his brother's face so that he could still be heard after lowering his voice, "Lily told Rose about nightmares she had been having when she was awake. Horrible dreams about rotting corpses crawling out of the lake and her friends being mutilated and basically the whole country going to shit. Rose says Lily firmly believes she had some sort of vision…"

"What?" gasped Albus, trying not to laugh. "She is unbelievable. Why would she think anyone would buy that? Or do you truly think she believes she is some sort of seer?" He waited for James to laugh but he just looked away uncomfortably. "What?" asked Albus. "You think she's telling the truth?"

"I didn't," said James, earnestly. "I honestly thought she was just being a brat but then McGonagall's speech at breakfast last week got me thinking. Someone obviously thinks there's enough credibility in our spoiled little sister or haven't you noticed that we've all been receiving supplementary lessons on combating the undead? Fire? Antidotes? The lot. I think it's just a precaution but, I don't think we should rule out the possibility – especially when the ministry is getting involved."

"No way," said Albus, astounded. He sat back on the bench and took in his brother's sombre expression, searching his face for any hint of a wind-up but there was none. "Well," he said after a moment, "I'm still sceptical. Anyone who's sat through a single divination lesson can tell you it's all a load of hippogryph-shit."

"Hey," laughed James. "To each their own," he raised his hands, "just don't make fun of me too much if I keep an eye on the lake when I'm in the grounds for a while." They chatted a little more about Albus and Scorpius and James, instead of stressing him out, was actually really supportive for once such that Albus was weary of his intentions but he followed his brother's lead. "You know I was mostly joking when I mention having 'the talk' in that note I sent you but I just want to be sure…has anyone actually explained it all to you?"

"James," groaned Albus. "I know where babies come from. Can we please not do this."

"I'm not talking about babies," said James with a smirk. "Think about it this way, you have a quill full of ink…Do you know what you're writing on?" Albus blinked: the analogy was not working for him. What did quills and parchment have to do with sex? "Okay," said James. "I'm going to be blunt," he breathed deeply for a few seconds and Albus braced himself for what could only be a horrifically awkward question. "When a man and a woman have sex," he began much to Albus's protests about keeping his voice down. "You know where everything goes, right?"

"Yes, for the love of Merlin," whispered Albus. "I told you, I know how babies are made. Can we stop this now, please?"

"Right," said James. "That's how babies are made but we don't always want to be making babies do we? We have sex for other reasons too." Albus looked at his brother with raw embarrassment. Now he was certain that nice, supportive James had just been waiting for this opportunity to torture him again. "Do you even know how two men have sex? I'll bet dad never taught you that when he spoke to you."

"I'm not clueless, James," said Albus. "I know how it works. I don't need dad – or you – to tell me where to put my… _quill_. Are you satisfied?"

"How do you know?" asked James. "Have you and Scorpius already…"

"James!" gasped Albus. "Will you keep your voice down. I'm not having this conversation. You just want to know so you can think of new ways to harass me. I haven't done… _that_. And trust me, when I do, I won't be telling you about it." He stood up to leave.

"Albus wait," said James, he then asked him politely to sit back down, which he did. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to embarrass you. It's just that this kind of stuff, intimacy, is a big step and I don't want you to feel like you need to rush into anything like that until you're ready. I mean, you're fifteen for merlin's sake. Give yourself room to grow."

"How old were you when you first…you know?" asked Albus curiously.

"With a boy?" mocked James. "Never." He grinned but Albus wasn't amused. But James gave in and finally revealed everything they had never discussed about girlfriends he had had. He found out that, whilst James had been through many girlfriends in his time at Hogwarts he had only been intimate with two of them: the first (when he was fourteen) and the last (Lorna). "And don't tell her I told you that. In fact, don't tell anyone. This was for educational purposes only. And if you tell Mum or Dad I will personally make sure you're the first one to be eaten by Lily's inferi."

Albus laughed. "Okay, James," he said. "I'll take on board everything you said. I think you're right about being careful and all that. Can I still have the invisibility cloak if I promise I won't use it to change my ink or whatever your dumb quill story was meant to mean."

"I don't need you to promise me anything," replied James. "I just want you to do right by yourself and Scorpius. When the time is right, you'll know. I'll drop off the cloak later tonight." He stood, packed away what was left of his chess set and told his brother he would be heading to the library. "Do you want to join?"

"Can't," replied Albus. "I've got detention in half an hour. Polishing crystal balls or counting incense sticks in the divination attic or something daft like that. See you around?"

"Probably, don't look too soon but there's a _totally cute_ guy over there who's checking you out," said James with a wink as he departed. True enough, Scorpius had appeared in the great hall, covered, head to toe, in grimy stains from scrubbing cauldrons in the dungeons. As disgusting as his robes were, Albus couldn't help but grin at the sorry sight of his boyfriend.

He decided that he would omit the conversation about sexual practice when they talked about this later and decided that the game of chess would be more appropriate a story. Scorpius walked him to the spiral staircase which led up to the hole in the ceiling which served as the divination classroom where he would be serving his detention. He complained the full way about Slughorn's despicable Hygiene standards. "Seriously," said Scorpius. "At one point I was up to my elbows in dried out rat spleens. Do you know how hard it is to get an encrusted rat spleen of a pewter cauldron? I had to scrape it for a solid 20 minutes."

"All this talk of scraping rat guts." said Albus in sarcastic arousal. "You really know how to get me going, Scorpius." The blond boy turned red with embarrassment as he realised how unbelievably unpolished he had just been. "Please tell me you're saving the story about rinsing mermaid bile from a crystal phial for when we're alone."

"I'm sorry," said Scorpius. "I didn't realise I was being so, um, descriptive. Should I wait up for you tonight?"

"Please," answered Albus, then he gave Scorpius a quick peck on the lips while the corridor was still empty and scuttled off up the stairs.


	8. Chapter 8

Note: I'll stop updating so frequently now, I promise. I just had to write this chapter before the weekend or it would have turned me inside out. I apologise in advance for this one, in terms of length and pace, it's a long one and some of the events might be a little too soon for some people but I kind of want to focus a bit more on some of the drama outside of the main pairing and, as I said, if I didn't write it now, I would have gone up like a roman candle. If you've stuck with it this far, I hope you can forgive.

I decided to change the rating of this story from T to M. Nothing I write will be any more explicit than what I have already written in previous chapters but I felt that the adult themes within my writing are implicit enough that they would be greater than 'suggestive' and thus a stronger rating was appropriate (got to keep myself right with the ol' terms and conditions). Thanks to everyone and anyone who has stuck with this story, and reviewers really make my day. Okay I'm done now. Enjoy if you can

~Frost

 **Chapter 8: Richard Vs Carrow**

One week was all that was left of term and Albus could hardly believe it. The last classes of O.W.L. year were mostly mock exams on what they had covered in the first term and, if they were anything to go by, Albus was pretty sure he would be receiving no 'outstanding's in his exams in May. For transfiguration, he had been allocated the tasks of: transfiguring a chair into a violin, transfiguring it back into a chair then he was given the dreaded daisy-to-rose spell. His chair resembled a sort of lop-sided cradle by the end of the exam and his daisy wilted and died on the spot. Scorpius had gotten on no better than him. He told Albus that he had somehow managed to transfigure his desk into an angry wooden lion that chased him around the room for twenty minutes before the professor called it off.

"I wish I could have seen that," said Albus as they made their way to the dungeons for their potions mock-exam. This one, Albus was feeling more confident about. He seemed to have a natural talent for memorising ingredients which was half the battle, really. Scorpius was not feeling so confident – he claimed that potions made him feel queasy at the best of times. They lined up outside with their peers: most of the Gryffindors, including Rose, looked tentative while they waited; the Slytherins appeared to have a quiet confidence that having their head of house as the examiner was an advantage somehow which, knowing Slughorn, was entirely plausible. "Hey," said Albus as Stephanie came, practically skipping, to join them in the line. "You seem happy," commented Albus. "I guess your transfiguration exam went well?"

"The best, really," admitted Stephanie. "I'll be really shocked if I don't get an 'O' for transfiguration when the real exams start. How did yours go?" Albus and Scorpius made a series of groans to indicate their lack of competence for the subject to which Stephanie simply gripped them both by the shoulder and insisted they would do better next time, her hand lingered on Albus's shoulder a fraction longer than was usual. "I'll help you practice." She looked into his eyes, her long eyelashes fluttering sweetly. When the door to the potions class opened and they began to file into the room, Albus frantically communicated his confusion to Scorpius, was Stephanie _flirting_ with him again? He had thought she had given up on that.

They were each instructed to stand by a cauldron and wait to be assigned one of four possible potions to brew. Albus was assigned a giggling draught which was ridiculously easy compared to Scorpius's wolfsbane broth – the first stage in the complicated wolfsbane potion which would take an entire lunar cycle to brew to completion. Thankfully for Scorpius, the broth would be enough to pass the exam if he could get it right. Albus blasted through his potion without a problem and within fifteen minutes, all he had to do was allow it to simmer and stir it anti-clockwise every minute or so. He glanced around the room at the chaos that was ensuing as his peers frantically tried to salvage their mistakes or fretted about which direction to be stirring. Sometimes, Albus thought, it paid off to accept that you were bad with a wand.

"That was a nightmare," complained Stephanie on their way to the Great Hall. A strand of hair was plastered to her sweaty forehead. "I was making the wrong potion and had to start over from the beginning halfway through." They took a seat at the almost empty Slytherin table for lunch. The Great Hall was decorated for the Christmas period, the enchanted ceiling reflecting the snow that had begun to fall outside. Students were beginning to fill up the tables and there was one topic that was on everybody's lips: The Yule Ball, an event which had become a yearly tradition for the fourth years and above. It was a tradition that Albus and Scorpius had skipped the previous year and a tradition Albus was hoping to skip this year too.

"So, have you two given any thought to who you're going to ask to ball?" asked Stephanie dreamily. Smith and Marroway approached them behind her, bickering about something that Albus couldn't quite make out. "Hello? Earth to Albus?" He turned, apologising for not listening as Smith and Marroway each dropped moodily into a space on either side of Stephanie who immediately looked terribly uncomfortable, as if the negative vibes between the two angry seventh years were flowing directly through her, chilling her blood. "Scorpius? Any thoughts?"

Scorpius shook his head and, in an attempt to shift the atmosphere, redirected the question to the two quidditch captains. Marroway declared that he didn't dance and Smith agreed that Marroway _shouldn't_ dance, the school had already been rebuilt once and didn't need to run the risk of being destroyed again. Marroway uttered an obscenity in response and the bickering began again, each of them arguing as if Stephanie weren't wedged between the two of them. Scorpius mouthed an apology to Stephanie who was trying not to look uncomfortable.

"I don't really dance either," said Albus once an awkward silence had settled over the small congregation of the Slytherin team. Stephanie suggested that perhaps he just hadn't found the right dance partner and that he should consider asking someone. Someone proficient at dancing. Someone like her. Smith snorted quietly to himself and said something about Stephanie being too obvious and _oblivious_ for him to handle.

"And what would you know about obvious?" spat Marroway bitterly without looking at Smith. "Your loyalty should be to this team any idiot can see that buffoon is just trying to squeeze tactics out of you for an advantage." He stabbed his pasta with such force that Albus was surprised the older boy's fork didn't break in half.

"Sorry," retorted Smith, turning to look Albus in the eye. "Do _you_ think your brother is a buffoon, Albus?"

"Yes," replied Albus instinctively, without a thought. Marroway cracked up, laughing exaggeratedly at his proven point. What was this all about, thought Albus, exchanging glances between the equally clueless Scorpius and Stephanie.

"Of course you do," tutted Smith. "You're his _brother_. Let me rephrase: do you think James would abuse a friendship to steal information on an opposing team to win a game of school quidditch?" Smith folded his arms on the table and regarded Albus with great interest. Albus felt uncomfortable being put on the spot between his two captains, knowing that no matter how he answered, one of them would be pissed off at him. He wished Jenny were there to defuse the situation like she normally would.

"Er," he tried to think of a diplomatic answer that would please both of the boys who were looking at him expectantly. He turned to search Scorpius's eyes for any clue on what to say but they were as blank as his own. "I think he likes to win? He definitely likes being better than people at things." He hoped that would be enough but neither captain seemed satisfied. Marroway seemed to think this was enough to prove that James was scamming Smith; Smith saw it as proof that James would want to win without cheating for 'the best' didn't need an illicit advantage.

"I don't know why you've got a stick up your arse about this, Harley," spat Smith. "I wasn't even talking to him about quidditch so can you just let it go, please?" Marroway agreed not to bring it up for now but also pointed out that the situation was far from over: he would be keeping an eye on that James Potter.

"I can't believe I'm surrounded by four boys," said Stephanie – "who care deeply about me, might I add" – she spoke rapidly, "and not one of you has asked me to this bloody dance. Is it really so much to ask to stop gossiping about James _bloody_ Potter and pay me a little attention? I swear to _Merlin_ I am not leaving this table till someone offers to go to the dance with me. Albus?" She looked him right in the eye, silently egging him on, then she turned to Scorpius almost as an afterthought. "Well?" she raised her eyebrows and Scorpius became very pale and his mouth fell open.

"Alright, Rutherford," said Smith, stepping in to save Albus and Scorpius from an awkward situation. "Stephanie, my darling," he mocked. "Would you do me the honour of accompanying me to the Yule Ball this year. I promise not to invite anyone else." Stephanie looked shocked, glanced once more at Albus as if giving him a final opportunity to ask her but he shamefully bowed his head. Stephanie accepted the unexpected proposal and no more talk of the Yule Ball was permitted. Albus mouthed a 'thank you' to Smith who winked playfully in response. It turned out he hadn't asked anyone yet and now that he had asked Stephanie, most of the girls who followed him about were either weeping, fuming or intent on hexing Stephanie for taking the place they each felt was theirs.

At the top end of the Gryffindor table across the hall, there was loud chatter around Rose Granger-Weasley and Lily Potter. Albus craned his neck to try catch a glimpse of what was going on. Rose was clearly mouthing off to someone and many of the squeaky girls that she hung around with were chirping away in agreement. Lily looked miserable, as if she wanted the ground to open its jaws swallow her right then and there.

"Is that Carrow at the Gryffindor table?" asked Scorpius's voice in his ear, clearly just as intent on working out the cause of the raucousness as much as Albus. Right enough, Albus could see Richard Carrow, red in the face, and hotly arguing back and forth with Rose. Further along the Slytherin table, Albus noticed Derrick Douglas and the Falconer twins sniggering at their former leader's misfortune.

"Will you just back off Carrow," spat Rose, Albus had to strain his ears but he could just hear the exchange over the noise in the Great Hall. "Lily wants nothing more to do with you." Albus could tell by his sister's face that it was not true but she was clearly trying to please Rose who had, no doubt, taken it upon herself to keep her cousin out of trouble. "Move before I hex you." Professor Quinn, who happened to be passing by on her way to the teachers' table ushered the Slytherin boy away and issued Rose a warning for her behaviour. Crestfallen, Carrow looked over to his mates who were alternately laughing at him or making rude gestures – making it clear that they were no longer his friends. Albus felt sort of sorry for him – so did Scorpius evidently as he was reassuringly squeezing Albus's hand under the table. Carrow left the Great Hall with a red face and Albus considered going after him, after all, he and Scorpius had been through a situation where people wanted to keep them apart when all they had wanted was to be together. There was a lot of empathy in the situation.

Carrow didn't turn up to any of their classes for the rest of the day and when Albus questioned Rose about the scene in the Great Hall, all she had to say was that Carrow had asked Lily to the Yule Ball and that she, Rose, had intervened. "He would just get her into more trouble," insisted Rose in Herbology. They were working together because Stephanie was in a huff with him and demanded to work with Scorpius and, as it turned out, Rose wasn't all that bad to work with. "You have to admit," said Rose as they planted fire seeds in the patch outside of their normal greenhouse – the plants would have sprouted by the time the Christmas break was over, "he's a bad influence. His father was a Death Eater and he's obviously picked up some bad traits coming from a family like that."

"Scorpius's father was a Death Eater," he pointed out to his cousin then indicated the boy with a nod – Scorpius was up to his elbow in dirt while Stephanie skirted around trying not to get dirty, "do you think it's fair to judge someone on their parents' mistakes?" Rose followed Albus's line of sight to the dopey Slytherin boy with a heart of pure gold.

"Scorpius is different, Albus," she admitted, abandoning her trowel for a moment to collect her thoughts. "He's a sweet boy who wouldn't hurt a fly. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he'd run from a fly. Carrow isn't like Scorpius. Carrow is bitter and secretive and just look at what he got your sister involved in."

"You weren't there that night, Rose," said Albus, picking up the trowel and taking a turn of doing some of the manual labour. "It looked to me like Lily was the one calling all the shots when they were doing whatever awful magic they were doing." Rose seemed to consider Albus's words earnestly and confessed that she had noticed Lily acting strange before it all came about and had done nothing because she was too focused on homework. "It's not your fault," said Albus, admiring how mature he was being. Normally he would have looked for any reason to blame Rose but he could see now that she really wasn't a threat.

"Thanks, Albus," she said honestly. "You _do_ see what I'm saying though about Carrow and Scorpius. Scorpius really is a wonderful person no matter what his heritage is." She seemed almost mournful as she spoke about the boy she had so often rejected.

"Then why were you always so cruel to him?" asked Albus, his mouth working against him as often happened eventually whenever he talked to Rose. Anger was bubbling in the pit of his stomach. To hear Rose acknowledge how sweet and kind a person Scorpius was after putting him down so often brought out a rage in Albus that he didn't know he had. Of course, he should have been happy that Rose had never taken Scorpius seriously or else he might not have been in the position he was in now, but knowing that she had hurt him so casually, that she had caused him any pain deliberately made him want to curse her or pull her hair or shout in her face. "All he ever wanted was one date, for Merlin's sake and you couldn't even give him that."

"Oh Albus!" retorted Rose irritably, stabbing the trowel back into the dirt. "You really are clueless, aren't you. Do you honestly think so little of me that you believe I would hurt someone's feelings out of spite? I know I've said some horrible things in the past, Albus, and you know how sorry I am but you have to appreciate that I always said no to Scorpius for a good reason."

"And that is?" demanded Albus, unable to contain his anger. How could she think there would be any form of justification for something like this? There was nothing she could say to paint herself in a better light or to come back from such a bad point of view. He had been trying so hard to get along with Rose as well but, for some reason, whenever they were speaking, it always took a turn for the worst and they ended up arguing.

"Well, Albus Severus Potter," she hissed in an aggressive whisper. "I'm just not Scorpius's type and he certainly isn't mine. Surely you aren't too thick to understand what I'm saying. He's clearly gay and has been in love with you for years. And, since you won't let the subject drop, _Potter,_ I didn't humour him because I'm gay too." She was so angry that she picked up a fire seed with her un-gloved hand and burnt herself. Albus was in shock – he wasn't sure that he had heard his cousin correctly. Had she just came out to him? "Are you happy, Albus? No, of course you're not because the world couldn't possibly keep spinning if Albus Potter could admit to being happy for once in his miserable life."

Her words were meant to cut him, he knew that, but, for some strange reason, he found himself laughing. It was just a quick exhalation that developed into a baffled snicker. Rose looked at him angrily, not understanding what was so funny about the situation – she possibly even thought he was laughing _at_ her. He wrapped his arms around his cousin's shoulders and pulled her into a warm hug. When he released her, confusion was written all over her muddy face.

"Care to elaborate?" asked Rose and Albus couldn't help thinking, _who's the clueless one now?_ "Seriously, Albus, you're making me uncomfortable. Why are you grinning at me like that?"

"I'm just relieved that you told me," he said, realising that relief was exactly what he felt. Rose had never been a threat to his relationship and now he knew that she never would be. It was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and light had been shed on a situation he had never given much thought to: he and Rose didn't argue because they were so different; they argued because they were so similar and hadn't realised it. "Does anyone else know?" he asked as he pondered whether he should now trust her with his own secret. She explained that James knew – because James knew everything about everybody – but she wasn't ready to tell anyone else so he, Albus, had better keep his mouth shut. "I will," he promised. "Keep my mouth shut, I mean. What you said about Scorpius…about him being in love with me…" Rose nodded for him to go on. "How did you know and _when_ did you know, for that matter?"

She seemed to consider the question for a moment then explained. "Albus," she said, her tone serious as she spoke to him like he was a toddler. "I am almost one hundred percent positive that Scorpius Malfoy has been mad about you since he was twelve years old. Anyone could tell you that – the way he looks at you when you're not looking, the way he idolises you and clings onto every word you say. Have you ever seen him look at anyone like that?" Albus shook his head. "That's because he saves all those looks for you, cuz. Sorry if it's a shock to you but, I know how he feels, don't treat him any different, okay?" Albus held in another laugh – he was going to have to tell her everything.

"To tell the truth," he began - trying to look sombre whilst holding in a fit of giggles was no easy feat. "I'm pretty sure I'm in love with him too." Rose's eyes widened at the revelation. Had she really not expected him to feel the same? Was he not an obvious kind of gay like Scorpius apparently was to her? He glanced over at Scorpius who was red in the face and out of breath from doing all the digging in his pair. "We've been together a while," he said it casually as he watched his boyfriend working from a distance.

Rose punched him hard in the shoulder. "He's your boyfriend now?" she said a little too loud but nobody seemed to have heard her. Albus rubbed his shoulder and scowled at his cousin. "Why were you giving me all the grief just there about not giving him a chance if you're the one snogging him?"

"I honestly have no idea, Rose," he said with a grin and hoped she would forgive and forget. She went rather pale as she realised she needn't have told Albus about her own sexuality and made him promise, once more, not to breath a word of this conversation to anyone. "I told you, I'll keep it a secret," he insisted. "But you have to do the same for me. I haven't exactly talked to him about telling anyone and I probably shouldn't even have told you." The two cousins regarded each other awkwardly for a moment. "I'm glad we talked though," said Albus and Rose nodded in quiet agreement, "and thanks for keeping an eye on Lily, I guess you're right about Carrow whether she was the one that started it or not."

After Herbology, the Slytherins had Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Ravenclaws which would, again, be led by his father. They sat a written mock-exam which asked complicated questions about spell structures and was followed by a short scenario in which they had to write a strategy for dealing with the scenario. It was difficult but Albus was more proficient with the theory than the actual practice most of the time so he winged it and hoped for the best. Afterwards they were each called into a separate room for a practical assessment. Albus filled with dread as he was certain it was going to be a patronus. When it was his turn, he faced his father in the small room. In the centre was crammed a large wardrobe and Albus's heart sank – was he going to have to face a boggart in front of his Dad? He knew what his biggest fear was, at that moment, and there was no way he was prepared to deal with the outcome. His biggest fear was his parents finding out about his sexuality. It was fine telling James or Rose but, for some reason, the thought of his mother's disappointed face gave him a crippling anxiety. He wasn't ready for this. He wouldn't come out to his dad this way.

"I'm not fighting a boggart," he said plainly, his father grinned at his son's stubbornness. Albus didn't see what there was to be smiling about. His dad probably thought he could talk him around to sitting the test but Albus's mind was made up. No way in hell. "Why are you smiling? I told you, I'm not doing it."

"Well," said Harry. "It's a good job I didn't ask you to. The boggart is for the third years – I would hope you know how to get rid of a boggart already." He chuckled and ruffled Albus's hair; Albus took a step back and groaned away from the gesture. "I think you know what I _am_ going to ask you to do though, mate. Happy thoughts, Albus."

Albus took out his wand and gave a feeble attempt at a patronus charm but, as usual, it was an unimpressive dribble of vapour. He focused again, his mind racing through memories trying to settle on one that would be the opposite of what a dementor would look for. He wasn't sure why but he settled on a memory of him and James at the beach when they were really young – Lily had been a toddler still.

 _Ginny sat on a beach towel under a parasol, her sunglasses covered most of her pale face, her bathing suit showing the red patches where she had stayed in the sun too long. Lily tottered around on wobbly legs in the sand picking up tiny shells to take to her mother and receiving much applause and encouragement from Harry, Ginny and James. Albus sat bitterly at the side lines with his arms crossed over his chest. Lily was always getting praised for doing stupid little things. A monkey could carry a shell from the beach to its mother._

" _What's the matter, Albus," said Harry once he was finished giving Lily her standing ovation. "Too much sun for you?"_

" _No," a five-year-old Albus had said stubbornly. "Why is everyone happy at Lily?" He hadn't understood that babies needed that sort of encouragement to learn. In fact, he hadn't understood why his parents had wanted to bring a girl into the family in the first place. Were he and James not enough for them?_

" _Because Lily is starting to be big and clever like her big brothers," said Harry, crouching down so that he was at eye level with his youngest son. "I know it's hard to be the big brother and the little brother sometimes Albus but it means that everything James has shown you, you can show to Lily one day." Albus didn't want to teach Lily anything. James did a cartwheel in the sand, landing on his backside, laughing._

" _Dad!" said James jumping up and down excitedly. "Can we go in the water now?" Harry looked to Ginny who nodded and took a hold of Lily's attention. Harry grinned at his oldest son and stood up but Albus didn't move. "Come on Albus!" said James, eagerly pulling his little brother to his feet. "I'll race you to the water." Albus moodily declined – there was no point in racing with James. James would always be bigger and faster than him. "Okay then," said James clearly hurt that his brother didn't want to play with him. "Fine, you can stay here by yourself with the other girls." James ran towards the sea, Harry waited in the hope that Albus would change his mind. He did eventually, running after his brother he reached the water's edge and froze on the spot. Harry was throwing James into the waves but Albus couldn't set foot in the water. Instead, he had sat down in the sand and cried – he was scared of the sea._

" _Albus," said James, his brother had appeared at his side, dripping from head to toe. "Are you not coming in? It's freezing but it's really fun." Albus had shook his head, his face was wet from the tears. "What's wrong Albus? Are you scared?" The younger boy nodded miserably. James kneeled in the sand beside his brother and put his hands on his shoulders. "Okay, look at me," he said. Albus had obliged to the request, sniffing sadly. "I'm your big brother," he said. "That means it's my job to look after you. I won't let anything hurt you, okay? Not ever." Albus looked at his brother in awe and he believed him. "How about we go in together? Just to the shallow end?"_

" _Okay," Albus had agreed, wiping his nose on the back of his arm and allowing himself to be led into the big scary sea he been so frightened of, knowing that he was safe._

Albus compared the memory to the times, now that they had grown up, when James had been that same little boy that wanted to look after him and he knew that, this time, his patronus would take shape. He wondered what it would look like. Scorpius's was a cat and James's was a stag like their dad's. He'd overheard that Artemis's patronus took the shape of a hawk.

"Expecto Patronum!" said Albus and, at first he thought he had failed again as a singly mote of vapour was expelled from his wand. "What?" he complained. "I was sure it would work that time." He was ready to give in and accept that he just couldn't do it but Harry held a hand up.

"It did work Albus," he said encouragingly, pointing at what Albus was gobsmacked to recognise as a small, transparent…

"It's a moth?" questioned Albus. "My patronus is a moth?" He could feel his face grow red with embarrassment as he was suddenly glad that it hadn't worked for him in class. Even his grandmother had a more masculine patronus than he did.

"I think it's actually a butterfly," said Harry, kneeling down to inspect it closer before it fizzled out of existence. "Well done Albus!" Harry boomed, clapping his son on the back with pride. "I knew you could do it."

"Don't tell anyone it's a butterfly, dad. Please." he pleaded with his father who promised he wouldn't tell anyone if that's what Albus wanted. He couldn't believe his terrible luck. He knew that the shape of your wasn't important but people were just starting to appreciate him and it really was a pathetic shape for a patronus. The fact that he was gay and had a butterfly for a patronus would be the death of him if people found out all at once.

After class, he managed to get some alone time with Scorpius. They had a free period but, instead of cramming for their next test, they decided to wrap up and take a walk in the snow. The grounds were deserted so it was like they were the only people in the world. They chatted about Defence Against the Dark Arts and how it had gone fairly well for both of them and, though Albus refused to tell Scorpius the shape of his patronus, he recounted the memory of the beach and he was pretty sure Scorpius had started to well up.

"Are you admitting that you really _do_ love your brother then?" said Scorpius teasing his boyfriend. They had wandered down to the lake. The water had started to freeze, little clumps of ice floated along its normally shimmering surface. Albus pushed his shoulder in protest but he did appreciate how much James meant to him, even after all these years. He then remembered the discussion he had with Rose and he felt that he should tell Scorpius everything. "So, she knows about us now?" he looked a little concerned but Albus assured him that Rose wouldn't risk her own secret getting out. "I'm not worried," he said. "I want people to know eventually. I just think we should tell our parents before it gets out around school – I'd hate my dad to find out from someone other than me."

"Me too," agreed Albus. They parked themselves under a bare tree in the snow, taking a glove off each so they could hold each other's hands. "What do you make of Stephanie earlier? Do you think she's annoyed I didn't ask her to the Yule Ball?" Scorpius explained delicately that Stephanie's feelings for Albus were still more than platonic whether he chose to see it or not and that they would have to do something about it soon before someone got hurt. "We really should tell her," said Albus. "I don't want to make a mess of things but I just don't know if we can trust her with this. I mean, I want to but she hides things from us all the time and I think if she really does like me she might not take it too well."

"I don't know," said Scorpius. "I _was_ wondering thought," he began nervously. "It wouldn't be like we could dance or be close or anything but," he coughed and looked away while he continued, "d'you want to go to the ball?" He looked back at Albus. "With me – do you want to go to the Yule Ball with me. Together. The two of us." Albus laughed, grabbed a fistful of snow with his free hand had flung it in his boyfriend's face where it clung to his eyelashes. He started to protest but Albus silenced him with a kiss.

"You're serious?" asked Albus when they separated. "You want to take me to a dance," he continued, "where we _won't_ dance together and nobody will know we've gone as a couple?" Scorpius admitted that it did sound ridiculous when it was put like that. "We'll know that we're there together, I suppose," said Albus. Was he really going to go to a school dance? It was so unlike him. "Okay, Scorpius, I'm in, we'll go to…" He was cut-off, however as a wad of snow gently smacked him in the face. It was cold on his lips as he brushed it from his face. "Oh, it is on!" He dived at Scorpius, using his bodyweight to pin the other boy to the ground while he stuffed heaps of snow down his shirt.

"Albus no!" exclaimed a howling Scorpius, desperately trying to free himself from under Albus who was relentlessly trying to cover every inch of Scorpius with snow. He wriggled himself to freedom then they were at a stand-off. He ducked down, rolled a snowball and chased Albus around the grounds alternatiely throwing snowballs or ducking under them as Albus retaliated. They played in the snow for the rest of their free period and turned up to the stuffy divination attic with dripping hair and red cheeks.

"I have never lied so hard in my life," said Scorpius as they descended the steps to the dungeons an hour later. "Surely nobody believes that divination is a real thing." Albus commented that at least they had no way of predicting their result and Scorpius laughed – a little too hard – and then became increasingly awkward the closer they came to the common room and Albus had a feeling he was nervous about something.

"What's the matter with you?" asked Albus, slowing to a stop, you seem really on edge. Scorpius's face seemed to fall slightly as Albus confronted him. He was fidgeting which Albus had learned was an indication that he was embarrassed or nervous about something. He put his hand on Scorpius's arm then dropped it as the doors opened and gaggle of second years came shuffling down the corridor. Albus waited till they had gone before continuing. "You can talk to me."

"I know!" said Scorpius. "Of course I know I can talk to you," he hesitated. "I'm just embarrassed and I didn't want to bring it up like this and be all awkward but there you go, I'm being awkward." Albus just stood and waited for him to make sense. Scorpius sighed. "Okay I'll be blunt: I don't want to go back to the common room. Not yet."

"That's it?" asked Albus. "You're adorable." He laughed and turned around. "Where do you want to go? I'm pretty sure Madame Pince still won't let us in the library for that fight with Carrow and it's a bit dark to be skulking about the grounds." Scorpius didn't speak. He produced a small piece of parchment from the inside pocket of his robes and passed it to Albus with a red face. Albus swallowed hard as he realised he was reading the instructions to get into the room of requirement. "You're way more than adorable," he corrected himself as he became hot under the collar at the implication. "Okay, let's go."

When they arrived, performed the ritual, and were finally inside the room, Albus couldn't believe his eyes. The room was like a smaller-scale version of the Slytherin common room. It had one double four-post bed swathed in the green and silver house colours and was lit like it was under the lake. It felt like home – though Albus would never say such a ridiculous thing out loud. "Do you think many people know about this place?" asked Scorpius curiously as he took a seat on the spongy mattress. "It seems unlikely, really, doesn't it? Albus agreed then sat down next to Scorpius, kicking his shoes off, then crawling up the bed to rest against the pillows. Scorpius followed suit. They laid there, side-by-side, and chatted about their plans for Christmas. Scorpius's dad had given him permission to spend the week after Christmas at the Potters' but he had to spend the week leading up to Christmas with his mother's family. He didn't mind though, he was happy to be reminded of her.

"Do you think we should tell our parents soon?" asked Scorpius anxiously. Albus could tell that Scorpius wanted to be open about their relationship as much as he did but he also knew that Scorpius was more worried about his dad's reaction. "I feel like we're lying to them by not saying anything."

"I know what you mean," replied Albus. "I don't think we have to set a time limit on it. When we're ready we'll know. James said something like that once…it might have been about something else though, he was using an analogy about quills and ink and it didn't really make much sense to me."

Suddenly Albus leaned over and kissed Scorpius: a long, meaningful peck on the lips which he hoped adequately conveyed his feelings. He hovered over the blond boy afterwards, Scorpius looking up at him with dilated pupils. "We've been boyfriends for how long now?" asked Albus, he hadn't been keeping track but he was sure it had been 'months' now. Scorpius agreed. "Doesn't it feel like we've always been together like this?" he asked. "Just without all the kissing and, you know, other stuff?"

"Yeah," admitted Scorpius, wrapping his arms around Albus's waist and pulling their bodies tighter together. "I think we've cared about each other for so long, that it just feels like nothing has really changed between us. Well, I know I've felt this way about you for a long time, anyway."

"Years?" asked Albus with a grin.

"Years," confirmed Scorpius. "Albus, I've been in love with you since we were thirteen. When my mum…" he trailed off and Albus didn't pressure him to say anything else about the subject. "And then there was that fiasco last year when I thought I'd lost you forever. Really puts things into perspective, loss does." Albus's heart was beating as he realised fully, for the first time, that he really was in love.

"So basically, you're saying you love me?" he said sweetly, attempting to flutter his eyelashes like Stephanie and failing miserably. Scorpius looked away playfully.

"I didn't say that," the blond boy replied. "It's true, mind you," he continued, turning his head back around to face Albus. "Don't get a big head or anything though – you spend five years in someone's company you're bound to love them a little bit eventually aren't you?"

"Oh, just say it," groaned Albus, burying his head in Scorpius's chest. "It's obvious anyway."

"If it's obvious, why do I need to say it?" answered Scorpius. "You obviously know my feelings already, why does it matter what I say? I don't think it's obvious how you feel about the subject – for all I know I could say it then you might not say it back."

"I love you," said Albus plainly. "Five-year-friend love and boyfriend love and all the love in between. It's all the same really," he hesitated. "I didn't mean to push you if you're not ready to say it but…I don't know, I wanted to say it. And it's true: I love you."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," said Scorpius with a doting expression. "I used to dream about things like this," he admitted bashfully. "It's kind of surreal to actually hear you say it. I love you." He leaned up and kissed Albus again. "I have no doubt in my mind about it whatsoever." Albus melted into Scorpius's embrace and, after fighting the urge for long enough, began to unbutton Scorpius's shirt, each inch of skin revealed serving to quicken his pulse.

"Before we go any further," said Albus once their shirts were both hanging open and before they got carried away with the heat of the moment. "Are we going to," he didn't know how to say it without being grossly specific, "go _all the way_?" His heart was racing – merlin – he was ready: he could feel it in his blood – every fibre of his being was screaming to be connected to Scorpius and he didn't care how.

"I need you," said Scorpius. "Right now." And then they were kissing. Their shirts were on the floor and then they were naked only ever breaking the kiss to breath, their skin was so hot that Albus felt like it was going to melt off and he wanted it to.

They had fallen asleep in the room of requirement and it was morning when they woke. They sat on opposite ends of the bed to get dressed into their clothes from the day before, creased from being crumpled on the floor all night. Albus's stomach was in knots and he was afraid to look at Scorpius. What was this feeling and why were his eyes suddenly watering? He chanced a glance over his shoulder and his eye met Scorpius's. And there was that feeling again, that warm knot that was twisting and tightening in his gut. He felt so _damn_ close to him it was unreal.

"Al- "

"Scor- " They both started speaking at the same time. "You go first," said Albus nervously. Every second his eye was on Scorpius made his heart beat faster, his mouth drying up and the urge to touch the other boy swelling within him.

"Are you okay?" asked Scorpius, swivelling around to face Albus. "I mean, you don't regret doing what we did, do you?" He was fidgeting again, his chest rising and falling heavily beneath his half-buttoned shirt. Albus shook his head. "I was scared that maybe we went too far or that maybe you didn't like it. I never really thought about if you didn't like it. I liked it," Albus crawled towards him on the bed as he babbled. "I mean, I was scared that I was hurting you but then you told me to…" Albus kissed him on the lips.

"It was perfect, Scorpius," said Albus honestly. "It only hurt a little. Then it felt kind of weird and then it was amazing. I never knew that you could feel like that from getting…" he flushed, embarrassed again. "I liked it and I don't think it was too soon although I don't think I'll be rushing to tell my parents about it…Is it hot in here?" Now he was babbling. He couldn't deny that he had never felt so close to another person as he did to Scorpius.

"Yes," agree Scorpius. "It's very hot in here," his face was flushed and his fingers were sweaty when they entwined with Albus's. "Thanks for last night," he said. "Do you feel different? I feel different. I can't explain it." He squeezed Albus's hand. "You need to try it," he said after a while. "I want you to know how I feel."

"Scorpius," said Albus grinning. "I think I already do...but I definitely am open to trying it. Take your clothes off." He smirked cheekily.

"What now?" asked Scorpius frantically then he fumbled with his shirt buttons as he began to obey Albus's command much to the other boy's amusement.

"I was joking," laughed Albus. "We don't have time." But his gaze lingered over the exposed, pale chest in front of him and he could feel his lust taking effect on his body but they definitely did not have time. In fact, they were almost already late for their first class. So, they resisted all further temptation and kept at least an arm's length away from each other while they finished getting dressed. "Ugh," complained Albus after practically turning the room upside down. "Why do I lose a sock every time I take them off?"

After Albus demanding they find his missing sock, they were too late to have breakfast and went to class hungry that morning, having also skipped dinner the night before. They sat at adjacent desks during their Charms test and Albus couldn't help losing his concentration to watch Scorpius scribbling and crossing things out. Whenever he looked for too long, Scorpius would eventually catch his eye and grin at him and he would feel his insides turn to goo.

"Malfoy! Potter!" barked the normally tame Professor Quinn. "This is not a collaborative paper, eyes on your own work or you will fail." They turned their attentions back to their test only to look for each other once more and suppress a laugh. The Charms test went as well as Albus would have expected: dreadfully. He found, however, that he did not care. For the rest of the day he was a grinning idiot and he was pleased to see he was not the only one for Scorpius had an infectious giggle that kept returning to him at the most inopportune moments.

As the last day of term approached so, too, did the Yule Ball and the promise of an unforgettable night of music and dancing and socialising without the stress of homework or exams. It was a time to get dressed up and celebrate the Christmas spirit. Albus and Scorpius stood in the dormitory in their dress robes, Derrick Douglas and the Falconer twins were drinking from a questionable bottle and were making rude comments about who they were going to 'become acquainted with'. Albus scoffed as they mention many girls that were wildly out of their leagues. Carrow lay on his bed drinking what was clearly fire whiskey though, unlike the others, he had no intention of leaving the dormitory that night. He would drink himself into a stupor and pass out when he could drink no more. Albus felt a pang of guilt leaving the solemn boy to his own devices but the rest of the quidditch team was waiting for them in the common room.

"There they are!" exclaimed Smith, looking dashing in velvet dress robes of a deep blue. He was hyper, as always and Stephanie looked as if she were ready to hurt him if he didn't calm down. She looked radiant, she had stripped the blonde dye from her hair and her naturally dark hair fell around her soft face in ringlets. "Did you know Stephanie wasn't a natural blonde?" He slurred somewhat when he talked and Albus realised that he was drunk. Did everyone drink at these dances, Albus wondered.

Marroway was clearly sober and ready to get a move on – he was apparently meeting a girl from Hufflepuff at the dance and he was a stickler for timekeeping. Jenny had professed that dates were for the weak and that she was flying solo like 'Albus and Scorpius' and that they had better be prepared to dance with her if she felt like it. Smith drunkenly started to point out that Albus and Scorpius were clearly not going solo but, when he caught Albus's eye, he silenced himself, pressing a finger to his own lips.

"Zzanyone want a drink?" slurred Smith producing a small bottle of dark liquid. Albus and Scorpius politely declined. Jenny took a swig from the bottle then immediately spat it out onto the floor claiming that it tasted like poison and confiscated it from the already wasted boy. "Boooo!" he complained, giving her a thumbs-down. Stephanie looked livid and appeared to be regretting demanding an invite from ' _anyone_ '.

"When, Arty here passes out," said Steph as they all left together – she was holding him up and trying not to trip in her heels, "It won't just be Jenny that you'll need to dance with. I know that would be a tragedy for you, Albus, but I'm sure you could help a girl out for a few dances."

"Okay, Stephanie," said Albus with a genuine smile, "but you'll regret it. I wasn't lying when I said I was a terrible dancer." When they arrived at the Great Hall, Albus's jaw dropped open: he had never seen the place look so beautiful. The whole room was decorated with crystal and ice and intricate lace table cloths. There were enchanted instruments playing a quick Viennese Walz and, on the dancefloor, couples were twirling and laughing together under the illumination of the twinkling stars and the bright, almost-full moon. The team found a table to plant Smith who was quickly losing the ability to stand. It just so happened that it was beside the Gryffindor quidditch team's table and the girls sitting there were pointing and giggling while Smith grinned and blew kisses at them.

"He really is awful, isn't he?" she said then marched over to Smith and planted herself beside him and forcing a pint of water into his hand which he sipped dutifully and slumped against the girl happily. Stephanie's face softened slightly at the contact but she was angry nonetheless.

"Okay boys," said Jenny. "Which of you is first on the dance list? Connor?" Bates bowed in an overly sarcastic manner then followed the older girl to the dancefloor where she proceeded to 'school' him on 'the moves'. He and Scorpius watched as they took a spot centre floor and Bates awkwardly tried to keep up while Jenny danced with frantic irony: preforming 'the running man', 'the sprinkler' and many other ridiculous dad-dances from the 1980s whilst their peers twirled and swayed to the soft classical music.

"I feel like we somehow dodged a bullet with that one," said Scorpius, grinning as he turned to Albus. Oh no, thought Albus. Scorpius looked so handsome in his dress robes and he was so close that he could feel their bodies being drawn together like opposing poles of a magnet. The rest of the room seemed to disappear into the night as their eyes met. They were mere inches from each other.

"Albus!" a voice called out from behind them, startling them and causing them to jump a step away from each other. James was squeezing through students with three drinks in his hand, grinning. "I saw you come in and thought you could do with a drink," his breath carried the sour smell of alcohol and Albus could not believe that his brother had been drinking. "Don't worry," said James, catching on. "These are just lemonade," he promised as they each accepted a drink from him. "Smith looks rough," he pointed out. "And your friend Stephanie doesn't look too happy about it," he sipped his drink. "Did they, uh, come here together?" Albus nodded. "Will you two be alright if I got say hi?" Albus pointed out that they didn't need a chaperone. "Well you don't need to stand there like a pair of odd socks. Go dance or something."

Albus and Scorpius exchanged a look and decided to wait for a faster song and then they could join Jenny and Connor, who were still dancing like aerobics instructors, without feeling ridiculous. Every time they looked over, Jenny would wave vehemently for them to join them so they stopped looking and laughed to themselves. They ended up sitting with Stephanie, James and Smith so they could hold hands under the table without drawing any undue attention to themselves.

James and Smith were reminiscing about the quidditch camp they had attended and insisted that they should meet up during the holidays and fly together again at some point. Stephanie interjected that you had to be sober to fly and that Smith had enough alcohol in his system to put him over the limit for a year. At one point Smith got teary eyed and gripped James by the cheeks and told him how much he missed him. James blushed – something one did not see often – then reciprocated the comment with a bear-hug and a firm pat on the back. Albus couldn't tell if the situation was funny or awkward but he was content to just be sitting out of it, minding his own business with Scorpius. He was actually having a good time, surrounded by people he liked.

Jenny reappeared with Bates who immediately sat and gulped down an entire pitcher of water, gasping for breath. His forehead was sweaty for Jenny had seriously put him through his paces without having lost any steam herself. The music changed and the classical ballroom music was replaced by a more modern up-beat pop song that Albus only knew from hearing Lily singing it at home. He then felt a pang of guilt at the thought of Lily and Carrow cooped up and miserable in their separate common rooms. He couldn't help put himself and Scorpius into their shoes. Jenny wiggled her finger, enticing Scorpius up to dance with her – he looked frantically to Albus for a way out but he just shrugged and slyly egged him on. Never one to follow the crowd, now that everyone was bouncing up and down to the beat, Jenny had trapped Scorpius in a painfully severe tango, kicking and flourishing so unsystematically and unexpectedly that Albus suspected that Scorpius had nearly dropped her a few times.

While Smith and James were having their bromance, Stephanie caught his eye and before he knew it they were on the dancefloor a few paces away from Jenny and Scorpius (he could hear Jenny telling the dreadfully pale Scorpius that she was going to run and jump at him at the end of the song and he was to catch and lift her). He looked to Albus pleadingly but Albus had no response to give so he opted with the sorriest eyes he could muster.

Stephanie grabbed his hands and they did a sort of awkward twist and then she spun out thenthey picked up a rhythm and Albus realised that dancing wasn't all that bad. He was having a good time and, by the looks of it, so were all of his friends: Scorpius was nodding to Jenny, several feet away, that he was ready to lift her; Stephanie was smiling for the first time that night as she alternately turned and dropped to the floor; Bates was catching up on some well needed rest after his round with Jenny, Albus thought that perhaps the boy had actually fallen asleep; Marroway had convinced his date to engage in some complicated quidditch trivia game which they both appeared to be enjoying and James and Smith had drunkenly joined the dancefloor and were imitating Jenny and Scorpius's 'lavish' (in Jenny's mind this was the appropriate word; Scorpius would have said 'wonky' or 'terrifying') lift, Smith claiming that James made him feel like a princess, James telling him he _was_ a princess tonight, much to the amusement of the crowd. He couldn't imagine a more surprising or perfect experience. Until the music slowed down again and he was slow dancing with Stephanie. He glanced around: Scorpius had been released from Jenny who had disappeared to check on Connor, so he stood awkwardly amongst the couples; Smith and James held onto each other like they were a real couple until James's girlfriend Lorna arrived to request 'at least on dance before the bloody ball finished. Stephanie looked into his eyes and he prepared himself for an awkward moment. She was leaning in: she was about to kiss him. He shut his eyes but her lips were not on his, they were by his ear and he was listening to her chuckling.

"Dance with him," she whispered then when she pulled back and his eyes were open again he saw that she was grinning. "I like you Albus but I'm a big girl and I have eyes. Go dance with him, nobody is watching." He looked around and most of the students had, indeed cleared off and those that remained were either drunk like Smith, asleep like Connor or snogging the face off their dance partner like James. He ginned back at Stephanie, hugged her tight then walked unsteadily over to Scorpius who had sat down at a nearby table and was stirring a glass of lemonade with a straw. Stephanie had accepted Smith's hand in a dance – he had sobered up enough to tell her she was pretty and turn around in a circle to the music.

"So," said Albus, startling Scorpius. The blond boy looked up at him and his face was iridescent in the high moonlight. "I've been told that you have nobody to dance with," said Albus, his heart quickening. "And I know when you asked me to this thing, I said we wouldn't…but…um, would you?" He held his hand out. Scorpius looked at it as if he were truly shocked then looked back up at Albus, grinning like a schoolboy in love and accepted. Albus led him to the centre of the floor, conscious of the few pairs of eyes that noticed them but he decided not to care. This version of Albus and Scorpius was brave and did things like slow dancing together in front of people without vomiting from being nervous or panicking and sitting it out. They held each other close and turned slowly to the music. "Turns out you were right," said Albus so that only Scorpius could hear. His boyfriend gave him a puzzled look that asked him to elaborate. He nodded towards Stephanie, "She does fancy me." Scorpius looked over and Stephanie gave him a wink and a thumbs-up before returning to Smith who was now slumped and drooling on her shoulder much to her distaste. She gave him a smack on the head and told him she was leaving. "The funny thing is," continued Albus, "I didn't even have to tell her about us. She just knew, like Rose."

"I thought I would care more about people finding out about us, Albus," said Scorpius after a moment's thought, "but I think I've wanted this for so long that I don't care know knows. In fact, I want people to know you're mine." Maybe it was the heat of the moment or maybe it was his body giving in to its urges but at that moment Albus kissed him. There were a few woops from nearby dancers and one distant 'obviously' but it was all just white noise to him. They were both pale when his mouth left Scorpius's. Had they really just done that? You could laugh off a slow dance like James and Smith but they had just kissed and people had definitely seen them. There was no going back now.

"I am, by the way," said Albus once he had regained control of his voice. Scorpius narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Yours," elaborate Albus. They grinned and then they kissed again. "Let's get out of here?"

They walked up the stairs towards the room of requirement but as the rounded the corner they had to duck back. The caretaker had set up camp at the end of the corridor and Albus realised that of course the faculty were going to block it off – high hormones and intimate dances. Scorpius groaned and Albus told him to wait. He planted a kiss on his cheek then dashed back down the stairs and sprinted to the dungeons.

"Alba Caelo," said Albus at the entrance to the Sytherin common room, the password setting into motion the mechanism that sent the bricks in the wall turning and rearranging to reveal the archway. He sped through the room and leapt down the stairs two at a time to the dormitory. He pulled the shimmering invisibility cloak he had received from James and was about to return to Scorpius when his eye befell upon the sorry sight of Richard Carrow. He was grey in the face, his head lolling from side to side as he clutched the empty bottle of whiskey. He hiccoughed as he looked up at Albus.

"Whazzit?" he mumbled. "Whashoo lookin a'?" He dropped the bottle onto his mattress where the small trickle that was left spilled out onto the sheets. "You want to fight me too?" he tried to stand but his world was clearly spinning and he had to sit back down. "I'll be up once I have a rest," he slurred, closing his eyes. "I don't know what happened to me, Potter," he laughed.

"You had too much to drink Carrow," said Albus, "that's all. And, for the record, I don't want to fight you." Carrow looked grateful. "How come your friends aren't talking to you anymore?" Albus knew he shouldn't have been prying information out of a drunk person but he just felt so damn sorry for him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"They're not my friends," said Carrow trying to sit up again and failing. "You know, Potter, they only hung about with me because of my last name. It made me dangerous and they respected me for it. They thought my dad would show up and curse them if he found out they had disrespected me." He snickered then laughed hysterically at a joke only he knew the punchline to. Albus backed away, wishing he hadn't asked as all the laughing was making him nervous. Albus was about to bid him goodnight but Carrow grew quiet and serious again. His voice wobbled as he spoke and he was on the verge of tears. "I never knew my dad," said Carrow drunkenly, curling up into a ball on his saturated mattress. "I was raised by my mum and her family – muggles. When I came to Hogwarts and I told them my name they asked if my dad was _the_ Carrow as in _Amycus Carrow_ who they said was some great powerful wizard. I knew nothing, Potter," said Carrow, tears flowing freely from his eyes at this point. "I wanted to think of my dad - who I've never even met by the way - as some superhero wizard I could look up to so I lied and I said yes – Amycus Carrow was my father. I didn't know he was a Death Eater!" he was openly sobbing now. "For fuck's sake I didn't even know what a Death Eater was!" he exclaimed. "I just knew that people were giving me all this respect and nobody was bullying me anymore and I stuck with the lie and it all just got out of hand."

"But is it _really_ that bad a lie?" asked Albus in total shock about what he was hearing. "I mean, you _are_ a Carrow," he offered. "It's still a magical bloodline." Carrow laughed.

"Carrow is my mother's name," he clarified with a defeated grin. "And they're all muggles, my family – not a spark of magic between them. We just happen to have the same surname. Pure coincidence." He paused, uncurled and felt around for his empty bottle, brought it to his lips and swallowed air. "When I met your sister," he sniffed as he lay back down. "I felt like me, for the first time since I set foot in this godforsaken castle," he admitted. "She calls me Richard and she knew before I even told her – that's why the vision..."

"Vision? What vision are you talking about?" asked Albus. "What do you mean she knew before you told her? Carrow? Um…Richard?" But it was no use, the boy had passed out. Albus promised he would help him out of the sad mess he was in somehow, though he didn't know how. His mind was racing as he made his way back to Scorpius who had taken refuge in a dark alcove waiting on him. He was flipping a coin and muttering to himself. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting but I have so much to tell you." Scorpius shrieked, Albus had forgotten he was under the cloak and he must have scared the living daylight out of him. Heavy footfalls were thundering up the corridor and Albus quickly draped the cloak over Scorpius who grinned when he was face-to-face with Albus again. "Sorry," he whispered once the caretaker had finished searching around looking for the source of the noise, "I forgot you wouldn't be able to see me. Think we can do this now?"

They snuck past the vigilant old man who looked right through them as they approached. They walked slowly to avoid the cloak from revealing their shoes. Once they had slipped away, getting into the room was no problem. As soon as the door was closed and bolted Albus was about to divulge his encounter with Carrow but his lips were being crushed by Scorpius's and his tongue was at risk of being swallowed if he attempted to use it for anything other than kissing. "Tell me in the morning," breathed Scorpius whenever his mouth was not touching Albus. They stripped as they moved to the bed never breaking the kiss for longer than was absolutely essential. When they hit the mattress, Scorpius's eyes were pleading and Albus needed no encouragement to indulge his boyfriend's desire.

Note 2: Okay I lied earlier when I said I was done with all the notes. I just wanted to plug that I'm thinking of working on a spin-off story about James and his summer experience before the events of this shambles of a story. It would be a fairly short (HAHAHAHAHAHA) series of maybe 3 or 4 chapters about the quidditch camp he went to and how he became friends with my OC Artemis with some more family dynamics (which are my favourite things to write) and a step back from all the romance in this story. So if you're a fan of quidditch or James's attitude, send me a message and, if it's something enough people want, I'll post it here :) Thanks for reading.


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